P.R. Laws tit. 8, § 1114
The State constitutes the institutional aspect in the comprehensive development of children. To comply with its duty, it shall:
(1) Guarantee the exercise of all the rights of children.
(2) Ensure conditions for the exercise of children’s rights, and prevent such exercise from being threatened or affected through the design and execution of child and youth-related public policies.
(3) Guarantee the allocation of the necessary resources for compliance with child and youth-related public policies, so that the prevalence of their rights is ensured.
(4) Ensure the protection and effective reestablishment of any right that has been impaired.
(5) Promote peaceful coexistence within the family and the social setting.
(6) Resolve recourses, petitions, and judicial actions involving minors with priority.
(7) Promote respect for the physical, psychological, and intellectual integrity of minors, as well as for their rights and the enforcement thereof in all sectors of society.
(8) Educate children and their families on the importance of respect, dignity, the rights of others, democratic coexistence, human values, and peaceful conflict resolution.
(9) Prevent and immediately address the various violent acts that may threaten children’s right to life and the quality thereof.
(10) Guarantee the conditions, so that children may, from birth, have access to ideal and quality education, whether in educational institutions that are close to their homes or through the use of technology that can guarantee such access, both in rural and urban settings.
(11) Prevent and address sexual and domestic violence, as well as child abuse.
(12) Ensure that children in the custody of the Department are well-fed, without prejudice to other persons that must provide nourishment under the terms of this chapter, and guarantee effective mechanisms to demand and ensure compliance with child support.
(13) The Department shall investigate, refer, or require the investigation of any referral received involving abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect for which it shall use procedures, services, and means to guarantee that said investigations are conducted promptly and effectively. The same shall be conducted by professionals qualified by their education, experience, and expertise.
Whenever the Department of the Family has custody and relations among siblings have not been restricted or prohibited, the Department shall be responsible for establishing a visitation plan so that siblings that have been removed from their home can meet at least twice (2) a month, and seek their joint placement whenever possible. The Department of the Family shall be required to guarantee that physical guardians comply with all the duties and responsibilities stated in the plan.
To ensure compliance with the public policy set forth in this chapter, agencies and municipalities of the Government of Puerto Rico shall address situations of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect with priority as soon as they become aware thereof. The Department of the Family, the Department of Education, the Department of Health, the Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration, the Department of Housing, the Department of Justice, the Puerto Rico Police Department, the Corrections Administration, and the Juvenile Institutions Administration shall be required to address situations of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect with priority. They shall coordinate their efforts whenever rendering services related to identification, prevention, and treatment of minors who are victims of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect is required.
Coordination between agencies shall include joint planning, public education and information services, use of each other’s facilities, joint training, and activities for staff development, evaluation, and case management.
The agencies of the Government of Puerto Rico shall:
(1) Identify and report situations in which abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect exists or is suspected, for the investigation thereof as provided in this chapter.
(2) Offer protection to minors in emergency situations, including transportation, medical services coordination, emergency custody, and any other necessary service pending the intervention of the Department of the Family.
(3) Offer support to victims of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect.
(4) Provide support to minors in potentially traumatic situations.
(5) Protect the civil rights of children, as well as their privacy and integrity.
(6) Coordinate services with government and nongovernmental agencies for minors who are victims of abuse.
(7) Develop and implement prevention programs for both parents and children.
(8) Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams in situations involving abuse.
(9) Adopt educational and prevention programs for agency staff on abuse and/or institutional abuse.
(10) Design, develop, and implement an intervention protocol for situations involving abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect directed to assist abused children, abusive persons, and victims of domestic violence.
The Department and the agencies of the Government of Puerto Rico shall develop and adopt the regulations and necessary collaboration agreements to implement this chapter, as provided below:
(a) Department of Education.—
(1) Develop school policies and protocols to report situations of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect.
(2) Perform educational, psychological, and/or psychiatric evaluations; offer support and follow-up services in situations of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect.
(3) Intervene and offer services related to educational neglect.
(4) Offer parents help through school-sponsored programs, pursuant to the duties and responsibilities imposed by the Organic Act of the Department of Education.
(5) Facilitate and guarantee school placement and transportation for children in the custody of the Department within a term that shall not exceed seventy-two (72) hours, so as not to interrupt their school services. In the case of children with disabilities, whose emergency school placement may require the continuation of the special education program developed for them, the school principal, the special education teacher that provides such service and the school social worker shall meet to coordinate the child’s placement within the term set forth in this subsection. To such effect, every school, both public and private, shall keep an updated directory or catalog of specialized resources and facilities that enables and expedites the placement of a child with disabilities.
(6) Offer expert advice on educational matters, and their experience in situations of institutional abuse and/or institutional neglect in educational institutions.
(7) Facilitate the investigation of and intervention in institutional abuse and/or institutional negligence referrals and cases. The school social worker who handles abuse cases shall communicate periodically with the Department of the Family case workers, so that he/she actively participates in the intervention protocol designed for the referred minor and his/her family, including the abusive member.
(8) Request protection orders on behalf of the minors.
(b) Department of Health.—
(1) Provide medical diagnostic and treatment services to abused children and their families.
(2) Offer advice and consulting services to the Department on medical aspects of abuse, as requested.
(3) Provide expert testimony, certifications, and written reports during judicial proceedings, as required.
(4) Identify and provide support to families at high risk of abuse.
(5) Provide training for health and non-health professionals on the medical aspects of child abuse.
(6) Provide priority assessment and medical attention to minors in the custody of the Department, as well as any prescribed medication.
(7) Guarantee health services to minors in the custody of the Department, regardless of their placement.
(8) Establish service programs for abused children with special health needs.
(9) Offer expert advice on health matters, and their experience in situations of institutional abuse and/or institutional neglect in educational institutions.
(10) Collaborate in the investigation of abuse, institutional abuse, and/or institutional neglect referrals.
(11) Ensure that providers and entities that run privatized mental health services and facilities direct their immediate attention to situations involving abuse, as well as medication, and that they comply with the obligations imposed herein on the Department of Health.
(c) Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration.—
(1) Offer mental health and anti-addiction treatment, including treatment for alcohol and tobacco abuse, from an integrated perspective to abused children according to the identified needs. This includes determining the corresponding treatment level.
(2) Offer mental health and/or anti-addiction services to parents or persons responsible for a minor who engages in abuse, as part of the reeducation and reasonable effort process.
(3) Coordinate the rendering of anti-addiction and mental health services with the Service Plan of the Department.
(4) Enter into collaboration agreements with government entities required under this chapter to provide mental health or anti-addiction services to minors, their parents, or persons responsible for such minors who have engaged in abusive behavior.
(5) Provide information related to treatment offered or suggested for a minor during judicial proceedings, as required.
(6) Offer expert advice and their experience in situations of institutional abuse and/or institutional neglect in healthcare facilities.
(7) Facilitate the investigation of institutional abuse and institutional neglect referrals.
(8) Ensure that providers and entities that run privatized mental health services and facilities direct their immediate attention to situations involving abuse, and that they comply with the obligations imposed herein on the Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration.
(d) Department of Housing.—
(1) Provide immediate attention, as a protective measure, to requests involving situations of abuse where the children are in the custody of the Department and the mother, father, or person responsible for the minor can attest to their compliance with the Service Plan.
(2) Provide immediate attention, as a protective measure, to housing requests in situations where both domestic violence and child abuse exist.
(3) Identify provisional housing for emergency situations where placement proves to be difficult.
(4) In cases in which it is possible, include clauses in contracts to provide that the Department of Housing may amend the lease contract when the same is under the name of an abusive person, so that the minor may continue to live in his/her home.
(5) Ensure that administrative agents of public housing facilities notify and direct their immediate attention to possible situations of abuse. Furthermore, they shall comply with the obligations imposed herein on the Department of Housing.
(e) Puerto Rico Police Department.—
(1) Receive and investigate complaints involving abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect.
(2) Assist and collaborate with Department personnel when their safety is at risk and upon request.
(3) Collaborate actively with the Department in any affirmative action directed to exercise the custody of a minor and other services related to the protection thereof.
(4) Appear in judicial proceedings to testify on investigative procedures in cases of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect.
(5) Keep a record of protection orders issued under this chapter.
(f) Corrections Administration.—
(1) Keep a record of system participants who have been convicted of abuse.
(2) As a protective measure for minors, notify the Department and the person responsible for the minor of the release, pass, probation, or parole of an abusive parent.
(3) Offer educational programs to abusive parents that lead to their reeducation.
(4) Establish, administer, and operate reeducation and retraining programs for persons convicted of abuse or offenders.
(5) Participate and facilitate the intervention of service workers of the Department of the Family with inmates in interventions and treatment related to situations involving child abuse and the achievement of their children’s permanency plan.
(g) Juvenile Institutions Administration.—
(1) Identify and refer cases of institutional abuse and institutional neglect by the Juvenile Institutions Administration personnel to the Departments of the Family, Justice, and Puerto Rico Police.
(2) In situations between minors, which may constitute offenses, the investigation shall include the identification of institutional neglect.
(3) Ensure that the civil rights of the minor are safeguarded.
(4) Keep a registry of institutional abuse and/or institutional neglect cases.
(5) Facilitate the investigation of referrals for institutional abuse and/or institutional neglect.
(6) Keep a record of minors who are abusive parents.
(7) Notify the Department of the services rendered and of any progress observed in the minor.
(8) As a protective measure for minors who are victims of abuse, notify the Department and the minor’s legal guardian of the release pass granted, whether temporary or extended, of an abusive parent.
(9) Offer educational programs to abusive parents that lead to their education.
(h) Department of Justice.—
(1) Investigate referrals on institutional abuse and/or institutional neglect involving children.
(2) Conduct joint investigations of referrals or cases in which a determination has been reached to file charges of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect.
(3) Keep a statistical record of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect cases that have been criminally prosecuted, as well as of protection order violations.
Furthermore, the Secretary shall appoint a Deaths Review Panel composed of a multidisciplinary team to prevent, share information, and evaluate the circumstances in which children have died in Puerto Rico. The Panel may share the children’s causes of death with the public and support the creation of public policies and programs to prevent such fatalities. In addition, it may carry out any other function established by regulations.
History —Dec. 16, 2011, No. 246, § 7, eff. 90 days after Dec. 16, 2011.