Pennsylvania Statutes Title 11 P.S. Children § 875-305. Child identification, assessment and tracking system

(a) Development of system.--The Department of Public Welfare,  1 the Department of Education and the Department of Health shall develop a Statewide system for eligible child identification, assessment and tracking. This system shall be developed and coordinated by the agencies to assure that the system is compatible with the child-find system as required by Part B.

(b) At-risk children.--For the purposes of child identification, assessment and tracking for infants and toddlers, the Department of Public Welfare shall establish, by regulation, population groups to be included in these activities. The population groups shall include, but not be limited to, children whose birth weight is under 1,500 grams; children cared for in neonatal intensive care units of hospitals; children born to chemically dependent mothers and referred by a physician, health care provider or parent; children who are seriously abused or neglected, as substantiated and referred by the county children and youth agency under the act of November 26, 1975 (P.L. 438, No. 124), known as the Child Protective Services Law;  2 children with confirmed dangerous levels of lead poisoning as set by the Department of Health; and children who are homeless. The Department of Public Welfare may establish other population groups by regulation as it deems necessary.

(c) Components of system.--The system shall include, but need not be limited to, the provision of the following activities and services:

(d) Confidentiality.--Proper measures shall be developed and implemented to assure the confidentiality of the data contained in the system. Information shall be accessed only by appropriate staff of the Department of Public Welfare, the Department of Education and the Department of Health, including the staff of each agency's local entities, such as county mental health and mental retardation offices, school districts and intermediate units, which are responsible for the provision of services either directly or through subcontract to private providers. Nothing in this section is intended to preclude the utilization of data to provide for the preparation of reports, fiscal information or other documents required by this act or the Education of the Handicapped Act; but no information may be used in a manner which would allow for the identification of an individual child or family.