(a) The department shall refer a case to a center and the center shall initiate a response by a center’s multidisciplinary team appointed under § 264.406 when conducting an investigation of:
(1) a report of abuse or neglect that is made by a professional as defined by § 261.101 and that:
(A) alleges sexual abuse of a child; or
(B) is a type of case handled by the center in accordance with the working protocol adopted for the center under § 264.4031; or
(2) a child fatality in which there are surviving children in the deceased child’s household or under the supervision of the caregiver involved in the child fatality.
(b) Any interview of a child conducted as part of the investigation under Subsection (a) must be a forensic interview conducted in accordance with the center’s working protocol adopted under § 264.4031 unless a forensic interview is not appropriate based on the child’s age and development or the center’s working protocol adopted under § 264.4031.

(c) Subsection (a) applies only to an investigation of abuse or neglect in a county served by a center that has executed an interagency memorandum of understanding under § 264.403. If a county is not served by a center that has executed an interagency memorandum of understanding, the department may, if appropriate, directly refer a case to a center in an adjacent county to initiate a response by that center’s multidisciplinary team.