SUMMARY:

            This bill would amend Part 8 of Article 1 of Chapter 11 of Title 15 of the O.C.G.A. to provide for sharing of confidential information and to define a term.

REQUIREMENTS:

• The term “governmental entity” would be defined extensively to include:
• • Court;
  • Superior court;
  • Department of Juvenile Justice;
  • Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases within the Department of Human Resources;
  • Division of Family and Children’s Services within the DHR;
  • County DFACS;
  • Law enforcement units;
  • Public school.
• The bill would mandate sharing of all information not considered confidential by the federal government among the agencies listed.
• The information would not be allowable as evidence to assist the prosecution of a child in juvenile or superior courts or utilized to the detriment of the child.
• It would not allow any such information to then become subject to public disclosure unless otherwise required by law.

NOTE:

            There is no definition of “utilized to the detriment of the child.”  How would school systems be protected from lawsuits on the basis of releasing information that a parent and his/her lawyer considered detrimental?