(a) The board shall:

(1) Propose rules for legislative approval, in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to implement the provisions of this article and any applicable federal guidelines;

(2) Receive and consider applications for licensure of domestic violence programs, batterer intervention and prevention programs and monitored parenting and exchange programs;

(3) Assess the need for domestic violence programs, batterer intervention and prevention programs and monitored parenting and exchange programs, including licensure preapplication and application processes;

(4) Conduct licensure renewal reviews of domestic violence programs, batterer intervention and prevention programs and monitored parenting and exchange programs, that will ensure the safety, well-being and health of the programs' participants and staff;

(5) For each fiscal year, expend from the Family Protection Fund a sum not to exceed fifteen percent for the costs of administering the provisions of this article, and direct the Department of Health and Human Resources to distribute one half of the remaining funds equally and the other half of the remaining funds in accordance with a formula determined by the board, to licensed domestic violence programs;

(6) Submit an annual report on the status of programs licensed under the provisions of this article to the Governor and the Joint Committee on Government and Finance;

(7) Conduct hearings as necessary under this article; and

(8) Collect data about licensed programs for use in the annual report of the board.

(b) The board may:

(1) Advise the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources and the Chair of the Governor's Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Correction on matters of concern relative to their responsibilities under this article;

(2) Delegate to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources such powers and duties of the board as the board considers appropriate to delegate, including, but not limited to, the authority to approve, disapprove, revoke or suspend licenses;

(3) Advise administrators of state or federal funds of licensure violations and closures of programs; and

(4) Exercise all other powers necessary to implement the provisions of this article.

(c) The board shall develop a comprehensive list and inventory of services available in this state for victims of human trafficking and provide the information developed to state, county and local law-enforcement law agencies.

(d) The board shall coordinate with the appropriate government agencies to develop a program to promote public awareness about human trafficking, victim remedies and services available to victims.

Chapter 49. CHILD WELFARE.

ARticle 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS.

§49-1-201. Definitions related, but not limited, to child abuse and neglect.

When used in this chapter, terms defined in this sections have the meanings ascribed to them that relate to, but are not limited to, child abuse and neglect, except in those instances where a different meaning is provided or the context in which the word is used clearly indicates that a different meaning is intended.

"Abandonment" means any conduct that demonstrates the settled purpose to forego the duties and parental responsibilities to the child;

"Abused child" means a child whose health or welfare is being harmed or threatened by:

(A) A parent, guardian or custodian who knowingly or intentionally inflicts, attempts to inflict or knowingly allows another person to inflict, physical injury or mental or emotional injury, upon the child or another child in the home. Physical injury may include an injury to the child as a result of excessive corporal punishment;

(B) Sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation or commercial sexual exploitation;

(C) The sale or attempted sale of a child by a parent, guardian or custodian in violation of section fourteen-h, article two, chapter sixty-one of this code; or

(D) Domestic violence as defined in section two hundred two, article twenty-seven, chapter forty-eight of this code.

"Abusing parent" means a parent, guardian or other custodian, regardless of his or her age, whose conduct has been adjudicated by the court to constitute child abuse or neglect as alleged in the petition charging child abuse or neglect.

"Battered parent," for the purposes of part six, article four of this chapter, means a respondent parent, guardian or other custodian who has been adjudicated by the court to have not condoned the abuse or neglect and has not been able to stop the abuse or neglect of the child or children due to being the victim of domestic violence as defined by section two hundred two, article twenty-seven, chapter forty-eight of this code which was perpetrated by the same person or persons determined to have abused or neglected the child or children.

"Child abuse and neglect services" means social services which are directed toward:

(A) Protecting and promoting the welfare of children who are abused or neglected;

(B) Identifying, preventing and remedying conditions which cause child abuse and neglect;

(C) Preventing the unnecessary removal of children from their families by identifying family problems and assisting families in resolving problems which could lead to a removal of children and a breakup of the family;

(D) In cases where children have been removed from their families, providing time-limited reunification services to the children and the families so as to reunify those children with their families or some portion thereof;

(E) Placing children in suitable adoptive homes when reunifying the children with their families, or some portion thereof, is not possible or appropriate; and

(F) Assuring the adequate care of children or juveniles who have been placed in the custody of the department or third parties.

"Condition requiring emergency medical treatment" means a condition which, if left untreated for a period of a few hours, may result in permanent physical damage; that condition includes, but is not limited to, profuse or arterial bleeding, dislocation or fracture, unconsciousness and evidence of ingestion of significant amounts of a poisonous substance.

"Imminent danger to the physical well-being of the child" means an emergency situation in which the welfare or the life of the child is threatened. These conditions may include an emergency situation when there is reasonable cause to believe that any child in the home is or has been sexually abused or sexually exploited, or reasonable cause to believe that the following conditions threaten the health, life or safety of any child in the home:

(A) Nonaccidental trauma inflicted by a parent, guardian, custodian, sibling or a babysitter or other caretaker;

(B) A combination of physical and other signs indicating a pattern of abuse which may be medically diagnosed as battered child syndrome;

(D) Abandonment by the parent, guardian or custodian;

(E) Inadequate treatment of serious illness or disease;

(F) Substantial emotional injury inflicted by a parent, guardian or custodian;

(G) Sale or attempted sale of the child by the parent, guardian or custodian;

(H) The parent, guardian or custodian's abuse of alcohol or drugs or other controlled substance as defined in section one hundred one, article one, chapter sixty-a of this code, has impaired his or her parenting skills to a degree as to pose an imminent risk to a child's health or safety; or

(I) Any other condition that threatens the health, life or safety of any child in the home.

Neglected child" means a child:

(A) Whose physical or mental health is harmed or threatened by a present refusal, failure or inability of the child's parent, guardian or custodian to supply the child with necessary food, clothing, shelter, supervision, medical care or education, when that refusal, failure or inability is not due primarily to a lack of financial means on the part of the parent, guardian or custodian; or

(B) Who is presently without necessary food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education or supervision because of the disappearance or absence of the child's parent or custodian;

(C) "Neglected child" does not mean a child whose education is conducted within the provisions of section one, article eight, chapter eighteen of this code.

"Petitioner or co-petitioner" means the Department or any reputable person who files a child abuse or neglect petition pursuant to section six hundred one, article four of this chapter.

"Permanency plan" means the part of the case plan which is designed to achieve a permanent home for the child in the least restrictive setting available.

"Respondent" means all parents, guardians, and custodians identified in the child abuse and neglect petition who are not petitioners or co-petitioners.

"Sexual abuse" means:

(A) Sexual intercourse, sexual intrusion, sexual contact, or conduct proscribed by section three, article eight-c, chapter sixty-one, which a parent, guardian or custodian engages in, attempts to engage in, or knowingly procures another person to engage in with a child notwithstanding the fact that for a child who is less than sixteen years of age the child may have willingly participated in that conduct or the child may have suffered no apparent physical injury or mental or emotional injury as a result of that conduct or, for a child sixteen years of age or older the child may have consented to that conduct or the child may have suffered no apparent physical injury or mental or emotional injury as a result of that conduct;

(B) Any conduct where a parent, guardian or custodian displays his or her sex organs to a child, or procures another person to display his or her sex organs to a child, for the purpose of gratifying the sexual desire of the parent, guardian or custodian, of the person making that display, or of the child, or for the purpose of affronting or alarming the child; or

"Sexual assault" means any of the offenses proscribed in sections three, four or five, article eight-b, chapter sixty-one of this code.

"Sexual contact" means sexual contact as that term is defined in section one, article eight-b, chapter sixty-one of this code.

"Sexual exploitation" means an act where:

(A) A parent, custodian or guardian, whether for financial gain or not, persuades, induces, entices or coerces a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct as that term is defined in section one, article eight-c, chapter sixty-one of this code; or

(B) A parent, guardian or custodian persuades, induces, entices or coerces a child to display his or her sex organs for the sexual gratification of the parent, guardian, custodian or a third person, or to display his or her sex organs under circumstances in which the parent, guardian or custodian knows that the display is likely to be observed by others who would be affronted or alarmed.

"Sexual intercourse" means sexual intercourse as that term is defined in section one, article eight-b, chapter sixty-one of this code.

"Sexual intrusion" means sexual intrusion as that term is defined in section one, article eight-b, chapter sixty-one of this code.

"Serious physical abuse" means bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death, which causes serious or prolonged disfigurement, prolonged impairment of health or prolonged loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ.

“Commercial sexual exploitation” means the sexual commodification of children’s bodies for the purposes of financial or material gain including, but not limited to, exploitation of children for sexual purposes, child sex tourism, child pornography and child sex trafficking.

ARticle 4. COURT ACTIONS.

§49-4-301. Custody of a neglected child by law enforcement in emergency situations; protective custody; requirements; notices; petition for appointment of special guardian; discharge; immunity.

(a) A child believed to be a neglected child or an abused child may be taken into custody without the court order otherwise required by section six hundred two of this article by a law-enforcement officer if:

(1) The child is without supervision or shelter for an unreasonable period of time in light of the child's age and the ability to care for himself or herself in circumstances presenting an immediate threat of serious harm to that child; or

(2) That officer determines that the child is in a condition requiring emergency medical treatment by a physician and the child's parents, parent, guardian or custodian refuses to permit the treatment, or is unavailable for consent. A child who suffers from a condition requiring emergency medical treatment, whose parents, parent, guardian or custodian refuses to permit the providing of the emergency medical treatment, may be retained in a hospital by a physician against the will of the parents, parent, guardian or custodian, as provided in subsection (c) of this section.

(b) A child taken into protective custody pursuant to subsection (a) of this section may be housed by the department or in any authorized child shelter facility. The authority to hold the child in protective custody, absent a petition and proper order granting temporary custody pursuant to section six hundred two of this article, terminates by operation of law upon the happening of either of the following events, whichever occurs first:

(1) The expiration of ninety-six hours from the time the child is initially taken into protective custody; or

(2) The expiration of the circumstances which initially warranted the determination of an emergency situation.

No child may be considered in an emergency situation and custody withheld from the child's parents, parent, guardian or custodian presenting themselves, himself or herself in a fit and proper condition and requesting physical custody of the child. No child may be removed from a place of residence as in an emergency under this section until after:

(1) All reasonable efforts to make inquiries and arrangements with neighbors, relatives and friends have been exhausted; or if no arrangements can be made; and

(2) The state department may place in the residence a home services worker with the child for a period of not less than twelve hours to await the return of the child's parents, parent, guardian or custodian.

Prior to taking a child into protective custody as abandoned at a place at or near the residence of the child, the law-enforcement officer shall post a typed or legibly handwritten notice at the place the child is found, informing the parents, parent, guardian or custodian that the child was taken by a law-enforcement officer, the name, address and office telephone number of the officer, the place and telephone number where information can continuously be obtained as to the child's whereabouts, and if known, the worker for the state department having responsibility for the child.

Following a first encounter with a child who reasonably appears to a law-enforcement officer to be a victim who has engaged in commercial sexual activity, that officer shall notify the Department of Health and Human Resources and the Domestic Violence Program serving the area where the child is found. The child may be eligible for services including, but not limited to, appropriate child welfare services under chapter forty-nine of this code, victim treatment programs, child advocacy services, shelter services, rape crisis services and domestic violence programs required by article twenty-six, chapter forty-eight of this code, or other social services.

(c) A child taken into protective custody pursuant to this section for emergency medical treatment may be held in a hospital under the care of a physician against the will of the child's parents, parent, guardian or custodian for a period not to exceed ninety-six hours. The parents, parent, guardian or custodian may not be denied the right to see or visit with the child in a hospital. The authority to retain a child in protective custody in a hospital as requiring emergency medical treatment terminates by operation of law upon the happening of either of the following events, whichever occurs first:

(1) When the condition, in the opinion of the physician, no longer required emergency hospitalization, or;

(2) Upon the expiration of ninety-six hours from the initiation of custody, unless within that time, a petition is presented and a proper order obtained from the circuit court.

(d) Prior to assuming custody of a child from a law-enforcement officer, pursuant to this section, a physician or worker from the department shall require a typed or legibly handwritten statement from the officer identifying the officer's name, address and office telephone number and specifying all the facts upon which the decision to take the child into protective custody was based, and the date, time and place of the taking.

(e) Any worker for the department assuming custody of a child pursuant to this section shall immediately notify the parents, parent, guardian or custodian of the child of the taking of the custody and the reasons therefor, if the whereabouts of the parents, parent, guardian or custodian are known or can be discovered with due diligence; and if not, notice and explanation shall be given to the child's closest relative, if his or her whereabouts are known or can be discovered with due diligence within a reasonable time. An inquiry shall be made of relatives and neighbors, and if a relative or appropriate neighbor is willing to assume custody of the child, the child will temporarily be placed in custody.

(f) No child may be taken into custody under circumstances not justified by this section or pursuant to section six hundred two of this article without appropriate process. Any retention of a child or order for retention of a child not complying with the time limits and other requirements specified in this article shall be void by operation of law.

(g) Petition for appointment of special guardian. — Upon the verified petition of any person showing:

(1) That any person under the age of eighteen years is threatened with or there is a substantial possibility that the person will suffer death, serious or permanent physical or emotional disability, disfigurement or suffering; and

(2) That disability, disfigurement or suffering is the result of the failure or refusal of any parent, guardian or custodian to procure, consent to or authorize necessary medical treatment, the circuit court of the county in which the person is located may direct the appointment of a special guardian for the purposes of procuring, consenting to and giving authorization for the administration of necessary medical treatment. The circuit court may not consider any petition filed in accordance with this section unless it is accompanied by a supporting affidavit of a licensed physician.

(h) Notice of petition. — So far as practicable, the parents, guardian or custodian of any person for whose benefit medical treatment is sought shall be given notice of the petition for the appointment of a special guardian under this section. Notice is not necessary if it would cause a delay that would result in the death or irreparable harm to the person for whose benefit medical treatment is sought. Notice may be given in a form and manner as may be necessary under the circumstances.

(i) Discharge of special guardian. — Upon the termination of necessary medical treatment to any person under this section, the circuit court order the discharge of the special guardian from any further authority, responsibility or duty.

(j) Immunity from civil liability. — No person appointed special guardian in accordance with this article is civilly liable for any act done by virtue of the authority vested in him or her by order of the circuit court.

Chapter 61. crimes and their punishment.

ARticle 14. human trafficking.

§61-14-1. Definitions.

When used in this article, the following words and terms shall have meaning specified unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

“Adult” means an individual eighteen years of age or older.

“Coercion” means:

(1) The use or threat of force against, abduction of, serious harm to or physical restraint of an individual;

(2) The use of a plan, pattern or statement with intent to cause an individual to believe that failure to perform an act will result in the use of force against, abduction of, serious harm to, physical restraint of or deportation of an individual;

(3) The abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process;

(4) The destruction or taking of, or the threatened destruction or taking of, an individual’s identification document or other property; or

(5) The use of an individual’s physical or mental impairment when the impairment has a substantial adverse effect on the individual’s cognitive or volitional function.

“Commercial sexual activity” means sexual activity for which anything of value is given to, promised to or received by a person.

“Debt bondage” means inducing an individual to provide:

(1) Commercial sexual activity in payment toward or satisfaction of a real or purported debt; or

(2) Labor or services in payment toward or satisfaction of a real or purported debt if:

(A) The reasonable value of the labor or services is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt; or

(B) The length of the labor or services is not limited, and the nature of the labor or services is not defined.

“Forced labor” means labor or services that are performed or provided by another person and are obtained or maintained through the following:

(1) Threat, either implicit or explicit, deception or fraud, scheme, plan, or pattern or other action intended to cause a person to believe that, if the person did not perform or provide the labor or services that person or another person would suffer serious bodily harm, physical restraint or deportation: Provided, That this does not include work or services provided by a minor to the minor's parent or legal guardian so long as the legal guardianship or custody of the minor was not obtained for the purpose compelling the minor to participate in commercial sex acts or sexually explicit performance, or perform forced labor or services.

(2) Physically restraining or threatening to physically restrain a person;

(3) Abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process; or

(4) Destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating or possessing any actual or purported passport or other immigration document, or any other actual or purported government identification document of another person: Provided, That “forced labor” does not mean labor or services required to be performed by a person in compliance with a court order or as a required condition of probation, parole, or imprisonment.

“Identification document” means a passport, driver’s license, immigration document, travel document or other government-issued identification document, including a document issued by a foreign government.

“Labor or services” means activity having economic value.

“Minor” means an individual less than eighteen years of age.

“Patronize” means giving, agreeing to give or offering to give anything of value to another person in exchange for commercial sexual activity.

“Person” means an individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, or other legal entity. The term does not include a public corporation or government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality.

“Protective custody” means custody within a hospital or other medical facility or a place previously designated for such custody by the Department of Health and Human Resources, subject to review by the court, including an authorized child shelter facility, group home or other institution; but such place shall not be a jail or place for the detention of criminal or juvenile offenders.

“Serious harm” means harm, whether physical or nonphysical, including psychological, economic or reputational, to an individual which would compel a reasonable individual of the same background and in the same circumstances to perform or continue to perform labor or services or sexual activity to avoid incurring the harm.

“Sexual activity” means sexual contact, sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion, as defined in section one, article eight-b of this chapter, or sexually explicit conduct, as defined in section one, article eight-c of this chapter.

“Sexual servitude” means:

(1) Maintaining or making available a minor for the purpose of engaging the minor in commercial sexual activity; or

(2) Using coercion to compel an adult to engage in commercial sexual activity.

“Traffics” or “trafficking” means recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, receiving, providing, obtaining, isolating, maintaining or enticing an individual in furtherance of forced labor or sexual servitude.

“Victim” means an individual who is subjected to trafficking or to conduct that would have constituted trafficking had this article been in effect when the conduct occurred, regardless of whether a perpetrator is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted.

§61-14-2. Trafficking an individual; penalties.

(a) Separate violations — For purposes of this article, each adult or minor victim is a separate offense.

(b) Aggravating circumstance. —

(1) If an individual is convicted of an offense under this article and the court makes a finding that the offense involved an aggravating circumstance, the individual may not be eligible for parole before serving three years in a state correctional facility.

(2) For purposes of this subsection, “aggravating circumstance” means the individual recruited, enticed or obtained the victim of the offense from a shelter or facility that serves runaway youths, children in foster care, the homeless or individuals subjected to human trafficking, domestic violence or sexual assault.

(1) The court shall order a person convicted of an offense under this article to pay restitution to the victim of the offense.

(2) A judgment order for restitution may be enforced by the state or a victim named in the order to receive the restitution in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action in accordance with section four, article eleven-a of this chapter, including filing a lien against the person, firm or corporation against whom restitution is ordered.

(3) The court shall order restitution under subdivision (1) of this subsection even if the victim is unavailable to accept payment of restitution.

(4) If the victim does not claim restitution ordered under subdivision (1) of this subsection for five years after entry of the order, the restitution shall be paid to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund created under section four, article two-a, chapter fourteen of this code.

(d) Disgorgement. — In addition to the fine and penalties set forth in this article, any business entity that engages in the offenses established in this article may be fined not more than $500,000 for each violation, be required to disgorge profit from activity in violation of this article pursuant to section five, article thirteen of this chapter and be debarred from state and local government contracts.

(e) Eligibility for Compensation Fund. — Notwithstanding the definition of victim in section three, article two-a, chapter fourteen of this code a victim of any offense under this article is a victim for all purposes of article two-a, chapter fourteen of this code: Provided, That for purposes of subsection (b), section fourteen, article two-a, chapter fourteen of this code, if otherwise qualified, a victim of any offense under this article may not be denied eligibility solely for the failure to report to law enforcement within the designated time frame.

§61-14-8. Immunity for minor victim of sex trafficking.