1. Upon receipt of a report of child abuse or neglect concerning a child three years of age or younger and the children’s division’s determination that such report merits an investigation, such investigation shall include an evaluation of the child by a SAFE CARE provider, as defined in section 334.950, or a review of the child’s case file and photographs of the child’s injuries by a SAFE CARE provider.

2. When a SAFE CARE provider makes a diagnosis that a child three years of age or younger has been subjected to physical abuse, including but not limited to symptoms indicative of abusive bruising, fractures, burns, abdominal injuries, or head trauma, and reports such diagnosis to the children’s division, the division shall immediately submit a referral to the juvenile officer. The referral shall include the division’s recommendations to the juvenile officer regarding the care, safety, and placement of the child and the reasons for those recommendations.

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