West Virginia Code § 49-6-114

Powers and duties of clearinghouse advisory council; comprehensive
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strategic plan required to be provided to the Legislature.
The council shall prepare a comprehensive strategic plan and recommendation of programs
in furtherance thereof that will support efforts to prevent the abduction, runaway and
exploitation, or any thereof, of children to locate missing children, advise the West Virginia
State Police regarding operation of the clearinghouse and its other responsiebilities under
this article, and cooperate with and coordinate the efforts of state agencies and private
organizations involved with issues relating to missing or exploited childrren. The council may
seek public and private grants, contracts, matching funds, and procurement arrangements
from the state and federal government, private industry, and other agencies in furtherance
of its mission and programs. An initial comprehensive strategic plan that will support and
foster efforts to prevent the abduction, runaway, and exploittation of children, and to locate
missing children, shall be developed and provided to the Governor, the Speaker of the House
of Delegates, and the President of the Senate no later than July 1, 2020, and shall include,
but not be limited to, the following:
(1) Findings and determinations regarding thes extent of the problem in this state related to:
(A) Abducted children; (B) missing children; (C) exploited children; and (D) missing and
endangered children.
(2) Findings and determinations identifying the systems, both public and private, existing in
the state to prevent the abducetion, runaway, or exploitation of children, and to locate
missing children, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of those systems and the
clearinghouse; L
(3) The inclusion of exploited children within the functions of the clearinghouse. For
purposes of this article, an exploited child is a person under the age of 18 years who has
been: (A) Used in the production of pornography; (B) subjected to sexual exploitation or
sexual offenses under §61-8B-1 et seq. of this code; or (C) employed or exhibited in any
injuWrious, immoral, or dangerous business or occupation in violation of §§61-8-5 through
61-8-8 of this code;
(4) Recommendations of legislative changes required to improve the effectiveness of the
clearinghouse and other efforts to prevent abduction, runaway, or exploitation of children,
and to locate missing children. Those recommendations shall consider the following:
(A) Interaction of the clearinghouse with child custody proceedings;
(B) Involvement of hospitals, child care centers, and other private agencies in efforts to
prevent child abduction, runaway, or exploitation, and to locate missing children;
(C) Publication of a directory of and periodic reports regarding missing children;
(D) Required reporting by public and private agencies and penalties for failure to report and
false reporting;
(E) Removal of names from the list of missing children;
(F) Creating of an advocate for missing and exploited children;
(G) State funding for the clearinghouse and efforts to prevent the abduction, runaway, and
exploitation of children, and to locate missing children;
(H) Mandated involvement of state agencies, such as publication of information regarding
missing children in existing state publications and coordination with the state registrar of
vital statistics under §§16-5-12 of this code; and
(I) Expanded requirement for boards of education to notify the clearinghouse in addition to
local law-enforcement agencies under §18-2-5c of this acode or if a birth certificate or school
record received appears to be inaccurate or fraudulent and to receive clearinghouse
approval before releasing records; l
(5) Methods that will coordinate and engender collaborative efforts among organizations
throughout the state, whether public or private, involved with missing or exploited children;
(6) Plans for the use of technology in the clearinghouse and other efforts related to missing
or exploited children;
(7) Compliance of the clearinghouse, state law, and all rules promulgated pursuant thereto
with applicable federal lLaw so as to enhance opportunities for receiving federal grants;
(8) Consultation with the state board of education and other agencies responsible for
promulgating rules under this article;
(9) Possible methods for identifying missing children prior to enrollment in a public or
nonWpublic school;
(10) The feasibility and effectiveness of utilizing the federal parent locator service in locating
missing children; and
(11) Programs for voluntary fingerprinting.

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