35-20-111 shall not divulge or make public any records except as

35-20-111 shall not divulge or make public any records except as required for court proceedings.

(h) Confidential records may be disclosed only for a purpose consistent with this act and as provided by department or investigating state agency rules and regulations and applicable federal law.

35-20-113. False report; penalty. A person commits a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or both, if he reports information pursuant to this act and knows or has reason to know the information is false or lacks factual foundation.

35-20-114. Immunity.

(a) A person or agency filing a report under this act or testifying or otherwise participating in any judicial proceeding arising from a petition, report, or investigation is immune from civil or criminal liability on account of the person's petition, report, testimony or participation, unless the person knowingly or negligently reports information that is false or lacks factual foundation. The immunity provided under this subsection applies only to those persons whose professional communications are generally confidential or subject to the Wyoming Public Records Act, W.S. 16-4-201 et seq. including:

(i) Attorneys;

(ii) Members of the clergy;

(iii) Medical practitioners;

(iv) Social workers;

(v) Mental health professionals;

(vi) Nursing home staff; assisted living facility staff; adult day care center staff; adult family-care home staff; social worker, or other professional adult care, residential or institutional staff;

(vii) State, county or municipal criminal justice employees or law enforcement officers; and

(viii) Bank, savings and loan or credit union officers, trustees or employees.

(b) A person or agency, including an authorized department volunteer, medical personnel or law enforcement officer who, at the request of the department, participates in an investigation required by this act or in an action that results from that investigation is immune from civil or criminal liability for any act or omission relating to that participation if the person acted in good faith and, if applicable, within the course or scope of the person’s assigned responsibilities or duties.

35-20-115. Central registry of adult protection cases; establishment; operation; amendment, expungement or removal of records; classification and expungement of reports; statement of person accused.

(a) The department shall establish and maintain a record of all adult protection reports and a central registry of under investigation and substantiated adult protection cases under this act.

(b) Through the recording of reports, the department's recordkeeping system shall be operated to assist the department to:

(i) Immediately identify and locate prior reports of cases of abuse, neglect, exploitation, intimidation or abandonment of a vulnerable adult to assist in the diagnosis of suspicious circumstances and the assessment of the needs of the vulnerable adult and his caregiver;

(ii) Continuously monitor the current status of all pending adult protection cases;

(iii) Evaluate the effectiveness of existing laws and programs through the development and analysis of statistical and other information; and

(iv) Maintain a central registry of "under investigation" reports and "substantiated" reports of abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults for provision of information to qualifying applicants pursuant to W.S. 35-20-116. Within six (6) months of being placed in the central registry, all reports classified as "under investigation" shall be reclassified as "substantiated" or expunged from the central registry, unless the state agency is notified of an open criminal investigation or criminal prosecution. Unsubstantiated reports shall not be contained within the central registry.

(c) Upon written application of the department or any substantiated person and upon good cause shown and notice to the department, the subject of the report and all interested parties, the department may amend, expunge or remove any record from the central registry.  (d) Any person named as a perpetrator of abuse, neglect, exploitation, intimidation or abandonment of any vulnerable adult in any substantiated report maintained in the central registry shall have the right to have included in the report a statement concerning the incident giving rise to the report. Any person seeking to include a statement pursuant to this subsection shall provide the department with the statement. The department shall provide notice to any person identified as a perpetrator of this right to submit a statement in any substantiated report maintained in the central registry.

(e) Any person convicted of, or having pled guilty or no contest to, a crime which includes the abuse, neglect, exploitation, intimidation or abandonment of any vulnerable adult shall have that conviction reported to the department by the court and the report shall be maintained in the central registry.

35-20-116. Access to central registry records pertaining to adult protection cases; child and vulnerable adult abuse and registry account.

(a) Upon appropriate application and for employee or volunteer screening purposes, the department shall provide to any employer or entity whose employees or volunteers may have unsupervised access to vulnerable adults in the course of their employment or volunteer service a record summary concerning abuse, neglect, exploitation or abandonment of a vulnerable adult involving a named individual or shall confirm that no record exists. The state agency shall provide the results of the records check to the applicant by certified mail if the records check confirms the existence of a report "under investigation" or a "substantiated" finding of abuse or neglect. Otherwise, the state agency shall provide the results of the records check to the applicant in accordance with agency rules and by United States mail. The written results shall confirm that there is a report "under investigation", a "substantiated" finding of abuse or neglect on the central registry naming the individual or confirm that no record exists. When the individual is identified on the registry as a "substantiated" perpetrator of abuse or neglect, the report to the applicant shall contain information with respect to the date of the finding, specific type of abuse or neglect, a copy of the perpetrator's voluntary statement and whether an appeal is pending. Any applicant receiving a report under this section identifying an individual as "under investigation" shall be notified by the department as to the final disposition of that investigation and whether an appeal is pending. The applicant, or an agent on behalf of the applicant, shall submit a fee in an amount determined by rule of the department and proof satisfactory to the department that the prospective or current employee or volunteer whose records are being checked consents to the release of the information to the applicant. The applicant shall use the information received only for purposes of screening prospective or current employees and volunteers who may, through their employment or volunteer services, have unsupervised access to vulnerable adults. Applicants, their employees or other agents shall not otherwise divulge or make public any information received under this section. The department shall notify any applicant receiving information under this subsection of any subsequent reclassification of the information pursuant to W.S. 35-20-115(c). The department shall screen all prospective employees in conformity with the procedure provided under this subsection.

(b) There is created a program administration account to be known as the child and vulnerable adult abuse registry account. All fees collected under subsection (a) of this section shall be credited to this account.

(c) Any person may request a central registry screen and summary report on themselves as provided by subsection (a) of this section upon payment of the fee required by subsection (a) of this section.

35-20-117. Civil cause of action for exploitation of vulnerable adults.

(a) A vulnerable adult shall have a cause of action against any person who has exploited the vulnerable adult. The vulnerable adult may recover actual damages, punitive damages and reasonable attorney's fees for the exploitation of the vulnerable adult. The action may be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction. The action may be brought by the vulnerable adult or any of the following:

(i) The vulnerable adult's guardian, conservator or other fiduciary acting for the vulnerable adult;

(ii) The personal representative of the estate of a deceased vulnerable adult;

(iii) The vulnerable adult's agent as defined by W.S.