Section 37-5-124 - Disclosure of the death or near fatality of persons in the custody of the department of children's services(a) The commissioner of children's services shall provide a report of the fatality or near fatality of:(1) Any child in the custody of the department;(2) Any child who is the subject of an ongoing investigation by child protective services or has been the subject of an investigation by child protective services within the forty-five (45) days immediately preceding the child's fatality or near fatality; or(3) Any child whose fatality or near fatality resulted in an investigation of the safety and well-being of another child in the home; within ten (10) business days of the fatality or near fatality of such child to the members of the senate and house of representatives representing the child. The district attorney for the judicial district in which the child was located must also receive a copy of the report provided to the legislators and may communicate with the legislators representing the child about the report and its contents or about any other otherwise confidential information that the legislators may have acquired pursuant to § 37-5-107(d).
(b) The legislators representing the child shall be determined by the home address of the child. If the child was not a resident of Tennessee prior to being placed in the custody of the department, the legislators representing the child shall be determined by the address of the residence or facility in which the child was located at the time of the child's fatality or near fatality.(c) For the purposes of this section, "near fatality" shall have the same meaning as in § 37-5-107.(d) The department of children's services, county medical examiners, chief medical examiners, and facilities that perform autopsies, pursuant to § 38-7-105, must establish policies and procedures for the prioritization of the completion of final autopsy reports for fatalities described in subsection (a).Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 881,s 1, eff. 7/1/2024.Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 64, s 34, eff. 3/29/2021.Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 472, s 1, eff. 5/24/2019.Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 345, s 44, eff. 5/10/2019.Acts 2005, ch. 168, § 2; 2010 , ch. 1031, § 1; 2011 , ch. 410, § 3(t).