                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CONFIDENTIALITY OF DEPARTMENT RECORDS (§ 16.1-300)

A. The social, medical, psychiatric, and psychological reports and records of
children who are or have been (i) before the court, (ii) under supervision,
(iii) referred to a court service unit, or (iv) receiving services from a court
service unit or who are committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice shall be
confidential and shall be open for inspection only to the following:

   1. The judge, prosecuting attorney, probation officers and professional staff
   assigned to serve a court having the child currently before it in any
   proceeding;

   2. Any public agency, child welfare agency, private organization, facility or
   person who is treating or providing services to the child pursuant to a
   contract with the Department or pursuant to the Virginia Juvenile Community
   Crime Control Act as set out in Article 12.1 (&#xA7; 16.1-309.2 et seq.);

   3. The child&#8217;s parent, guardian, legal custodian or other person
   standing in loco parentis and the child&#8217;s attorney;

   4. Any person who has reached the age of majority and requests access to his
   own records or reports;

   5. Any state agency providing funds to the Department of Juvenile Justice and
   required by the federal government to monitor or audit the effectiveness of
   programs for the benefit of juveniles which are financed in whole or in part
   by federal funds;

   6. The Department of Social Services or any local department of social
   services that is providing services or care for, or has accepted a referral
   for family assessment or investigation and the provision of services in
   accordance with subsection A of &#xA7; 16.1-277.02 regarding, a juvenile who
   is the subject of the record and the Department of Behavioral Health and
   Developmental Services or any local community services board that is providing
   treatment, services, or care for a juvenile who is the subject of the record
   for a purpose relevant to the provision of the treatment, services, or care
   when these local agencies have entered into a formal agreement with the
   Department of Juvenile Justice to provide coordinated services to juveniles
   who are the subject of the records. Prior to making any report or record open
   for inspection, the court service unit or Department of Juvenile Justice shall
   determine which reports or records are relevant to the treatment, services, or
   care of such juvenile and shall limit such inspection to such relevant reports
   or records. Any local department of social services or local community
   services board that inspects any social, medical, psychiatric, and
   psychological reports and records of juveniles in accordance with this
   subdivision shall not disseminate any information received from such
   inspection unless such dissemination is expressly required by law;

   7. Any other person, agency or institution, including any law-enforcement
   agency, school administration, or probation office by order of the court,
   having a legitimate interest in the case, the juvenile, or in the work of the
   court;

   8. Any person, agency, or institution, in any state, having a legitimate
   interest (i) when release of the confidential information is for the provision
   of treatment or rehabilitation services for the juvenile who is the subject of
   the information, (ii) when the requesting party has custody or is providing
   supervision for a juvenile and the release of the confidential information is
   in the interest of maintaining security in a secure facility, as defined by
   &#xA7; 16.1-228 if the facility is located in Virginia, or as similarly
   defined by the law of the state in which such facility is located if it is not
   located in Virginia, or (iii) when release of the confidential information is
   for consideration of admission to any group home, residential facility, or
   postdispositional facility, and copies of the records in the custody of such
   home or facility shall be destroyed if the child is not admitted to the home
   or facility;

   9. Any attorney for the Commonwealth, any pretrial services officer, local
   community-based probation officer and adult probation and parole officer for
   the purpose of preparing pretrial investigation, including risk assessment
   instruments, presentence reports, including those provided in &#xA7; 19.2-299,
   discretionary sentencing guidelines worksheets, including related risk
   assessment instruments, as directed by the court pursuant to subsection C of
   &#xA7; 19.2-298.01 or any court-ordered post-sentence investigation report;

   10. Any person, agency, organization or institution outside the Department
   that, at the Department&#8217;s request, is conducting research or evaluation
   on the work of the Department or any of its divisions; or any state criminal
   justice agency that is conducting research, provided that the agency agrees
   that all information received shall be kept confidential, or released or
   published only in aggregate form;

   11. With the exception of medical, psychiatric, and psychological records and
   reports, any full-time or part-time employee of the Department of State Police
   or of a police department or sheriff&#8217;s office that is a part of or
   administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, and who
   is responsible for the enforcement of the penal, traffic, or motor vehicle
   laws of the Commonwealth, is entitled to any information related to a criminal
   street gang, including that a person is a member of a criminal street gang as
   defined in &#xA7; 18.2-46.1. Information shall be provided by the Department
   to law enforcement without their request to aid in initiating an investigation
   or assist in an ongoing investigation of a criminal street gang as defined in
   &#xA7; 18.2-46.1. This information may also be disclosed, at the
   Department&#8217;s discretion, to a gang task force, provided that the
   membership (i) consists of only representatives of state or local government
   or (ii) includes a law-enforcement officer who is present at the time of the
   disclosure of the information. The Department shall not release the
   identifying information of a juvenile not affiliated with or involved in a
   criminal street gang unless that information relates to a specific criminal
   act. No person who obtains information pursuant to this subdivision shall
   divulge such information except in connection with gang-activity intervention
   and prevention, a criminal investigation regarding a criminal street gang as
   defined in &#xA7; 18.2-46.1 that is authorized by the Attorney General or by
   the attorney for the Commonwealth, or in connection with a prosecution or
   proceeding in court;

   12. The Commonwealth&#8217;s Attorneys&#8217; Services Council and any
   attorney for the Commonwealth, as permitted under subsection B of &#xA7;
   66-3.2;

   13. Any state or local correctional facility as defined in &#xA7; 53.1-1 when
   such facility has custody of or is providing supervision for a person
   convicted as an adult who is the subject of the reports and records. The
   reports and records shall remain confidential and shall be open for inspection
   only in accordance with this section;

   14. The Department of Medical Assistance Services, for record information
   covering the period prior to and up to 30 days following release from
   commitment, for the purposes of providing pre-release services, reentry
   planning, and post-incarceration placement and services; and

   15. The Office of the Attorney General, for all criminal justice activities
   otherwise permitted and for purposes of performing duties required by Chapter
   9 (&#xA7; 37.2-900 et seq.) of Title 37.2.
   				A designated individual treating or responsible for the treatment of a
   person may inspect such reports and records as are kept by the Department on
   such person or receive copies thereof, when the person who is the subject of
   the reports and records or his parent, guardian, legal custodian or other
   person standing in loco parentis if the person is under the age of 18,
   provides written authorization to the Department prior to the release of such
   reports and records for inspection or copying to the designated individual.

B. The Department may withhold from inspection by a child&#8217;s parent,
guardian, legal custodian or other person standing in loco parentis that portion
of the records referred to in subsection A, when the staff of the Department
determines, in its discretion, that disclosure of such information would be
detrimental to the child or to a third party, provided that the juvenile and
domestic relations district court (i) having jurisdiction over the facility
where the child is currently placed or (ii) that last had jurisdiction over the
child if such child is no longer in the custody or under the supervision of the
Department shall concur in such determination.
			If any person authorized under subsection A to inspect Department records
requests to inspect the reports and records and if the Department withholds from
inspection any portion of such record or report pursuant to the preceding
provisions, the Department shall (a) inform the individual making the request of
the action taken to withhold any information and the reasons for such action;
(b) provide such individual with as much information as is deemed appropriate
under the circumstances; and (c) notify the individual in writing at the time of
the request of his right to request judicial review of the Department&#8217;s
decision. The circuit court (1) having jurisdiction over the facility where the
child is currently placed or (2) that had jurisdiction over the original
proceeding or over an appeal of the juvenile and domestic relations district
court final order of disposition concerning the child if such child is no longer
in the custody or under the supervision of the Department shall have
jurisdiction over petitions filed for review of the Department&#8217;s decision
to withhold reports or records as provided herein.

HISTORY: 1977, c. 559; 1978, cc. 738, 740; 1981, c. 487; 1988, c. 541; 1989, c.
733; 1994, c. 19; 2000, c. 212; 2002, c. 735; 2003, cc. 108, 143; 2006, cc. 431,
500; 2007, c. 511; 2009, c. 740; 2010, cc. 367, 472; 2011, cc. 99, 169; 2012,
cc. 262, 421; 2017, cc. 207, 210; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 466; 2025, cc. 316, 317.