                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS AND INFORMATION CONCERNING SOCIAL SERVICES;
CHILD-PROTECTIVE SERVICES AND CHILD-PLACING AGENCIES (§ 63.2-105)

A. The local department may disclose the contents of records and information
learned during the course of a child-protective services investigation or during
the provision of child-protective services to a family, without a court order
and without the consent of the family, to a person having a legitimate interest
when in the judgment of the local department such disclosure is in the best
interest of the child who is the subject of the records. Persons having a
legitimate interest in child-protective services records of local departments
include, but are not limited to, (i) any person who is responsible for
investigating a report of known or suspected abuse or neglect or for providing
services to a child or family that is the subject of a report, including
multidisciplinary teams and family assessment and planning teams referenced in
subsections J and K of &#xA7; 63.2-1503, law-enforcement agencies and attorneys
for the Commonwealth; (ii) child welfare or human services agencies of the
Commonwealth or its political subdivisions when those agencies request
information to determine the compliance of any person with a child-protective
services plan or an order of any court; (iii) personnel of the school or child
day program as defined in &#xA7; 63.2-100 attended by the child so that the
local department can receive information from such personnel on an ongoing basis
concerning the child&#8217;s health and behavior, and the activities of the
child&#8217;s custodian; (iv) a parent, grandparent, or any other person when
such parent, grandparent or other person would be considered by the local
department as a potential caretaker of the child in the event the local
department has to remove the child from his custodian; (v) the Commitment Review
Committee and the Office of the Attorney General for the purposes of sexually
violent predator civil commitments pursuant to Chapter 9 (&#xA7; 37.2-900 et
seq.) of Title 37.2; and (vi) the staff of (a) a court services unit, (b) the
Department of Juvenile Justice, (c) a local community services board, or (d) the
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services who are providing
treatment, services, or care for a child who is the subject of such records for
a purpose relevant to the provision of the treatment, services, or care,
including the immediate identification of children who may be receiving or who
have received treatment, services, or care from the local agencies and the
Department of Juvenile Justice, when the local agencies have entered into a
formal agreement with the Department of Juvenile Justice to provide coordinated
services to such children, provided that any court services unit or local
community services board to which such records are disclosed in accordance with
this paragraph shall not further disclose any information received unless such
further disclosure is expressly required by law.
			The model memorandum of understanding developed in accordance with &#xA7;
66-10.3 may serve as the formal agreement that is required pursuant to this
subsection, but any formal agreement that is entered into by the local agencies
and the Department of Juvenile Justice shall be reviewed by the Office of the
Attorney General before such agreement may take effect.
			Whenever a local department exercises its discretion to release otherwise
confidential information to any person who meets one or more of these
descriptions, the local department shall be presumed to have exercised its
discretion in a reasonable and lawful manner.

B. Any person who has not been legally adopted in accordance with the provisions
of this title and who was a child for whom all parental rights and
responsibilities have been terminated, shall not have access to any information
from a child-placing agency with respect to the identity of the biological
family, except (i) upon application of the child who is 18 or more years of age,
(ii) upon order of a circuit court entered upon good cause shown, and (iii)
after notice to and opportunity for hearing by the applicant for such order and
the child-placing agency or local board that had custody of the child.
			An eligible person who is a resident of Virginia may apply for the court
order provided for herein to (a) the circuit court of the county or city where
the person resides or (b) the circuit court of the county or city where the
principal office of the child-placing agency or local board that controls the
information sought by the person is located. An eligible person who is not a
resident of Virginia shall apply for such a court order to the circuit court of
the county or city where the principal office of the child-placing agency or
local board that controls the information sought by the person is located.
			If the identity and whereabouts of the biological family are known to the
agency or local board, the court may require the agency or local board to advise
the biological parents of the pendency of the application for such order. In
determining good cause for the disclosure of such information, the court shall
consider the relative effects of such action upon the applicant for such order
and upon the biological parents.

HISTORY: 2001, c. 518, § 63.1-209.1; 2002, c. 747; 2004, cc. 114, 220; 2006,
cc. 863, 914; 2022, cc. 63, 64.