Delaware General Assembly

Signed 8/19/22

The General Assembly has ended, the current status is the final status.

5/9/22

Poore

Sen. Brown
Rep. K. Williams

Sen. Bonini, Ennis, Gay, Hansen, Hocker, Lawson, Lockman, Lopez, Mantzavinos, S. McBride, Paradee, Pettyjohn, Pinkney, Richardson, Sokola, Sturgeon, Townsend, Walsh, Wilson
Reps. Briggs King, Lynn, Mitchell, Osienski, Ramone, Shupe, Michael Smith

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ADULT SEXUAL MISCONDUCT IN SCHOOLS.

This Act expands Erin's Law to require training and education on issues related to inappropriate relationships between adults and children, such as grooming. Erin's Law requires the Child Protection Accountability Commission and the Division of Family Services of the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families to develop and maintain a curriculum to be used by Delaware's public schools to educate public school employees about personal body safety and child sexual abuse. Erin's Law is named in honor of Erin Merryn, a victim of child sexual abuse, who is working to enact legislation on this subject throughout the country. This act expands Erin's Law in several respects. The Act expands the range of grades that Erin's Law applies to from pre-kindergarten to grade 6 to pre-kindergarten to grade 12. In addition, the Act expands Erin's Law to require training for school employees on the prevention of inappropriate sexual misconduct, the establishment of appropriate adult and student interactions, and the warning signs of suspected adult sexual misconduct, with an emphasis on sexual grooming. It also expands the information available to parents and students to include information on the warning signs of adult sexual misconduct, including the derivative grooming of parents, methods for discussing adult sexual misconduct with students, resources for reporting suspected abuse, and counseling available to students and parents. Finally, the Act requires training and education for school administrators, school nurses, and school counselors on issues relating to inappropriate sexual relationships and grooming, such as strategies for the prevention of such misconduct, skills for responding to student disclosures of such misconduct, and measures to promote school recovery after an incident of such misconduct.

83:407

44

8/19/22

N/A

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