(A) At a hearing pursuant to Section 63-7-1650 or 63-7-1660, at which the court orders that a child be taken or retained in custody or finds that the child was abused or neglected, the court:

(1) shall order, without possibility of waiver by the department, that a person's name be entered in the Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect if the court finds that there is a preponderance of evidence that the person:

(a) physically abused the child; however, if the only form of physical abuse that is found by the court is excessive corporal punishment, the court only may order that the person's name be entered in the central registry if item (2) applies;

(b) sexually abused the child;

(c) wilfully or recklessly neglected the child; or

(d) gave birth to the infant and the infant tested positive for the presence of any amount of controlled substance, prescription drugs not prescribed to the mother, metabolite of a controlled substance, or the infant has a medical diagnosis of neonatal abstinence syndrome, unless the presence of the substance or metabolite is the result of a medical treatment administered to the mother of the infant during birth or to the infant;

(2) may, except as provided for in item (1), order that the person's name be entered in the central registry if the court finds by a preponderance of evidence that:

(a) the person abused or neglected the child in any manner, including the use of excessive corporal punishment; and

(b) the nature and circumstances of the abuse indicate that the person would present a significant risk of committing physical or sexual abuse or wilful or reckless neglect if the person were in a position or setting outside of the person's home that involves care of or substantial contact with children.

(B) At the probable cause hearing, the court may order that the person be entered in the central registry if there is sufficient evidence to support the findings required by subsection (A).

HISTORY: 2008 Act No. 361, Section 2; 2014 Act No. 281 (H.3102), Section 7, eff June 10, 2014.

Effect of Amendment

2014 Act No. 281, Section 7, rewrote subsection (A)(1); and made other nonsubstantive changes.