NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A new bill design to create a unified system for how children report abuse at school was passed unanimously in the Tennessee House of Representatives on Wednesday, May 3.
House Bill 2461 creates a single contact for abuse cases in each school and separates investigation records from school records.
Ultimately, the goal is to make sure children are not re-victimized.
"We pulled any investigation out of their school records because we know many times the perpetrator is a family member and they have access to those records," Childhelp's Eddie Smith told 10News in March.
Childhelp filed the bill in February and sent to the House Education Committee in March.
"At the core what we're looking at is how we speed up helping every single child," Smith said in March. "This bill asks every single school to create a child abuse coordinator within the school. This will be the person who will be working with law enforcement."