5141.4 - Child Abuse

To comply with provisions of law and for the protection and well being of students, the County Superintendent of Schools Office has established the following procedures to offer direction and clarity for the reporting process.

1. Legal Responsibility

Any employee of a county office of education whose duties bring the employee into contact with children on a regular basis is a mandated reported of child abuse. This includes, but is not limited to, teachers, classified employees and administrators.

Whenever a mandated reporter has knowledge of or reasonably suspects that a child has been the victim of abuse or neglect, the mandated reporter shall make a report to the specified agency. The report shall be made immediately or soon as practicable by telephone and followed by a written report within 36 hours. As of January 1, 2006, the reporter also has the option of filing the report by fax or electronically via e-mail.

For purposes of reporting suspected child abuse, “reasonable suspicion” means that it is objectively reasonable for a person to entertain a suspicion, based upon facts that could cause a reasonable person in a like position, drawing, when appropriate, on his or her training and experience, to suspect child abuse or neglect.

Any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or who reasonably suspects that a child is suffering serious emotional damage or is at a substantial risk of suffering serious emotional damage, may make a report to the specified agency.

Reports of suspected child abuse or neglect shall include the name, business address, and the telephone number of the mandated reporter; the capacity that makes the person a mandated reporter; the child’s name; and the information that gave rise to the reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect and the source or sources of that information. When a report is made, the following information, if known, shall also be included in the report: the child’s address, present location, and if applicable, school, grade, and class; the names, addressed, and telephone numbers of the child’s parents or guardians; and the name, address, telephone number, and other relevant personal information about the person or persons who might have abused or neglected the child.

2. Liability of Reporting Person

Any mandated reporter who fails to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months confinement in a county jail or by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by both that imprisonment and fine.

When two or more persons, who are required to report, jointly have knowledge of a known or suspected instance of child abuse or neglect, and when there is agreement among them, the telephone report maybe made by a member of the team selected by mutual agreement and a single report may be made and signed by the selected member of the reporting team. Any member who has knowledge that the member designated to make the report has failed to do so, shall thereafter make the report.

Any person who knowingly makes a false report of child abuse or neglect is liable for damages caused.

3. Immunity of Reporting Person and Confidentiality

No mandated reporter shall be civilly or criminally liable for any report required or authorized as a mandated reporter, and this immunity shall apply even if the mandated reporter acquired the knowledge or reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect outside of his or her professional capacity or outside the scope of his or her employment.

The identity of the person making the child abuse or neglect report shall be confidential and disclosed only among the agencies receiving, investigating or prosecuting mandated reports.

No agency shall disclose the identity of any person who files a mandated report to that person’s employer, except with the employee’s consent or by court order.

4. Protective Services Agencies

Mandated reporters who have knowledge of, or a reasonable suspicion that a child is a victim of abuse, whether physical, sexual or neglect, are obligated to report to:

Child Protective Services 1-800-827-8724

If a student is age eighteen (18) or over, call:

Adult Protective Services 1-877-565-2020

Reports may also be made to the local police department or sheriff’s department.

Legal References

Penal Code 11165.7 - Mandated Reporters
Penal Code 11165.9 - Agency Contacts
Penal Code 11166 - Reasonable Suspicion; Liability; Reporting Guidelines
Penal Code 11166.05 - Reports of Emotional Abuse
Penal Code 11167 - Contents of Report; Confidentiality of Reporters
Penal Code 11172 - Immunity

Approved May 24, 1994
Revised September 14, 2005