republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2021/hb-1531.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "DCS and the education community."
description: "Defines \"exigent circumstances\" for purposes of action taken by the department of child services (DCS) with respect to a child. Allows DCS to interview a child at the child's school, except for at a nonaccredited nonpublic school with less than one employee, without parental consent if: (1) the DCS employee presents their credentials upon arrival at the school; and (2) DCS presents a written statement that DCS has parental consent, a court order, or exigent circumstances. Requires that the written statement shall not be maintained in the child's file and must protect the child's and child's family's confidentiality. Mandates that DCS provide assurances that the child's school, or its representative, has been invited to participate in the case plan process."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 1531"
citation: "Indiana HB 1531 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ABUSE generally", "CHILDREN AND MINORS", "Department of Child Services", "CIVIL ACTIONS", "Immunity and Exemption from Liability"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dale DeVon", "Erin Houchin", "Stacey Donato"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 27
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2021-01-14"
last_action: "2021-04-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fc9026b3-2a78-40d6-97ad-c521283be722"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/house/1531"
source_hash: "788f28f2dc7eda3a2310e4e234425f27e0c903c3cd04097d098f76f7d420bcc4"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-in"]
---

# Indiana HB 1531 (2021) — DCS and the education community.

Defines "exigent circumstances" for purposes of action taken by the department of child services (DCS) with respect to a child. Allows DCS to interview a child at the child's school, except for at a nonaccredited nonpublic school with less than one employee, without parental consent if: (1) the DCS employee presents their credentials upon arrival at the school; and (2) DCS presents a written statement that DCS has parental consent, a court order, or exigent circumstances. Requires that the written statement shall not be maintained in the child's file and must protect the child's and child's family's confidentiality. Mandates that DCS provide assurances that the child's school, or its representative, has been invited to participate in the case plan process.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Engrossed House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1531/versions/HB1531.03.ENGH)
2. **Engrossed House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1531/versions/HB1531.05.ENGS)
3. **Enrolled House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1531/versions/HB1531.06.ENRS)
4. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1531/versions/HB1531.02.COMH)
5. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1531/versions/HB1531.04.COMS)
6. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2021/bills/HB1531/versions/HB1531.01.INTR)

## Sponsors

- Dale DeVon — primary (person)
- Erin Houchin — primary (person)
- Stacey Donato — primary (person)
- Anthony Cook — coauthor (person)
- Carolyn Jackson — coauthor (person)
- David Niezgodski — cosponsor (person)
- Elizabeth Rowray — coauthor (person)
- Lonnie Randolph — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-14** Coauthored by Representatives Cook and Rowray
- **2021-01-14** Authored by Representative DeVon
- **2021-01-14** First reading: referred to Committee on Family, Children and Human Affairs `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-09** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-18** Amendment #2 (DeVon) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-failure, amendment-passage`
- **2021-02-18** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-02-22** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 206: yeas 80, nays 15 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-22** Representative Jackson added as coauthor
- **2021-02-22** Senate sponsor: Senator Houchin
- **2021-02-23** Referred to the Senate
- **2021-03-08** First reading: referred to Committee on Family and Children Services `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-30** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2021-04-05** Senator Niezgodski added as cosponsor
- **2021-04-08** Senator Donato added as second sponsor
- **2021-04-12** Amendment #5 (Houchin) prevailed; voice vote `amendment-failure, amendment-passage`
- **2021-04-12** Amendment #1 (Ford J.D.) failed; Roll Call 406: yeas 11, nays 39 `amendment-failure`
- **2021-04-12** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2021-04-13** Senator Randolph added as cosponsor
- **2021-04-13** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 429: yeas 49, nays 0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-14** Returned to the House with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2021-04-14** Motion to concur filed
- **2021-04-15** House concurred in Senate amendments; Roll Call 453: yeas 66, nays 23 `amendment-failure`
- **2021-04-19** Signed by the Speaker
- **2021-04-23** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2021-04-28** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-04-29** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-04-29** Public Law 213

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fc9026b3-2a78-40d6-97ad-c521283be722`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).