S.B. 188 Summary

• Adds new section 588-A establishing confidentiality protections for Children's Justice Program documents, including case files, reports, photographs, recordings, and interviewer training materials.

• Permits disclosure of confidential information only to personnel directly involved in child treatment, investigation, case management, or legal proceedings on a need-to-know basis, or pursuant to court order after in camera review and showing of good cause.

• Expands program purpose from focusing solely on child sexual abuse and serious physical abuse to encompassing all child abuse or neglect cases, with priority given to sexual exploitation, serious physical abuse, and child trafficking cases.

• Adds child witnesses as beneficiaries of the program's services alongside abuse victims and extends coordination and interview minimization efforts to include child witnesses.

• Redefines key terms to use "child abuse or neglect" instead of "child sexual abuse," adds definitions for "child witness" and "program," and updates director duties to reflect broader scope of cases and services.