1. Each report made by a mandatory reporter, as defined in section 232.69, subsection 1, or a permissive reporter, as defined in section 232.69, subsection 2, shall be oral.
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Terms Used In Iowa Code 232.70

  • abuse: means :
     (1) Any nonaccidental physical injury, or injury which is at variance with the history given of it, suffered by a child as the result of the acts or omissions of a person responsible for the care of the child. See Iowa Code 232.68
  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • Assessment: means the process by which the department responds to all accepted reports of alleged child abuse. See Iowa Code 232.68
  • Child: means any person under the age of eighteen years. See Iowa Code 232.68
  • Department: means the state department of human services and includes the local, county, and service area offices of the department. See Iowa Code 232.68
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Parent: means a biological or adoptive mother or father of a child; or a father whose paternity has been established by operation of law due to the individual's marriage to the mother at the time of conception, birth, or at any time during the period between conception and birth of the child, by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or by administrative order when authorized by state law. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
  • Rule: includes "regulation". See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Sex trafficking: means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of commercial sexual activity as defined in section 710A. See Iowa Code 232.68
  • Sex trafficking victim: means a victim of sex trafficking. See Iowa Code 232.68
 2. The employer or supervisor of a person who is a mandatory or permissive reporter shall not apply a policy, work rule, or other requirement that interferes with the person making a report of child abuse.
 3. The oral report shall be made by telephone or otherwise to the department of human services. If the person making the report has reason to believe that immediate protection for the child is advisable, that person shall also make an oral report to an appropriate law enforcement agency.
 4. Upon receipt of a report, the department shall do all of the following:

 a. Immediately make a determination as to whether the report constitutes an allegation of child abuse as defined in section 232.68.
 b. Notify the appropriate county attorney of the receipt of the report.
 5. The oral and written reports shall contain the following information, or as much thereof as the person making the report is able to furnish:

 a. The names and home address of the child and the child’s parents or other persons believed to be responsible for the child’s care;
 b. The child’s present whereabouts if not the same as the parent‘s or other person’s home address;
 c. The child’s age;
 d. The nature and extent of the child’s injuries, including any evidence of previous injuries;
 e. The name, age and condition of other children in the same home;
 f. Any other information which the person making the report believes might be helpful in establishing the cause of the injury to the child, the identity of the person or persons responsible for the injury, or in providing assistance to the child; and
 g. The name and address of the person making the report.
 6. A report made by a permissive reporter, as defined in section 232.69, subsection 2, shall be regarded as a report pursuant to this chapter whether or not the report contains all of the information required by this section and may be made to the department of human services, county attorney, or law enforcement agency. If the report is made to any agency other than the department of human services, such agency shall promptly refer the report to the department of human services.
 7. Within twenty-four hours of receiving a report from a mandatory or permissive reporter, the department shall inform the reporter, orally or by other appropriate means, whether or not the department has commenced an assessment of the allegation in the report.
 8. If a report would be determined to constitute an allegation of child abuse as defined under section 232.68, subsection 2, paragraph “a”, subparagraph (3) or (5), except that the suspected abuse resulted from the acts or omissions of a person other than a person responsible for the care of the child, the department shall refer the report to the appropriate law enforcement agency having jurisdiction to investigate the allegation. The department shall refer the report orally as soon as practicable and in writing within seventy-two hours of receiving the report.
 9. If the department has reasonable cause to believe that a child under the placement, care, or supervision of the department is, or is at risk of becoming, a sex trafficking victim, the department shall do all of the following:

 a. Identify the child as a sex trafficking victim or at risk of becoming a sex trafficking victim and include documentation in the child’s department records.
 b. Refer the child for appropriate services.
 c. Refer the child identified as a sex trafficking victim, within twenty-four hours, to the appropriate law enforcement agency having jurisdiction to investigate the allegation.
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