LA SB237

Requires schools to immediately report allegations of physical or sexual abuse by school employees to the Department of Education, which must maintain a database that schools must check before hiring

Mandates that all suspected child sexual or serious physical abuse cases be referred to child advocacy centers for forensic interviews within 72 hours, with multidisciplinary teams required to review cases before DCFS or law enforcement can close them

Expands mandatory reporter requirements to include court-appointed supervised visit monitors and requires all mandatory reporters to complete annual training on identifying and reporting child abuse, including sexual abuse and human trafficking

Strengthens state child ombudsman oversight by granting unrestricted remote access to DCFS computer systems and requiring notification within 3 business days when a child fatality or near-fatality is the subject of an abuse investigation

Centralizes all child abuse reporting through DCFS (rather than directly to law enforcement), requiring DCFS to then refer cases to appropriate law enforcement agencies and notify reporters which agency received the referral