Cross-Reporting Among Responders to Child Abuse and Neglect: Summary of State Laws

Email Print (PDF 280 KB)  Share

Rate This Not yet rated.

Current through January 2010

This brief introduction summarizes how States address this topic in statute. To access the statutes for a specific State or territory, visit the State Statutes Search.

All 50 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have statutes specifying procedures that State agencies must follow in handling reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. In most States, these procedures include requirements for cross-system reporting and/or information sharing among professional entities. Typically, reports are shared among social services agencies, law enforcement departments, and prosecutors' offices.

The Purpose of Cross-Reporting Statutes

In most States, a mandated reporter or other person who is concerned about a child's safety and welfare can make a report of suspected child maltreatment to a reporting hotline, the child protection agency, or a law enforcement agency. State laws that require the agencies receiving the initial reports to share the reports with other specific agencies (i.e., cross-report) ensure that needed information is available to the agency that must respond to the report.

Specific models for information sharing vary from State to State. For example, child protective services agencies generally have the responsibility of responding to cases in which the suspected abuse or neglect is caused by a parent, family member, or other caregiver. In approximately 27 States, cases in which the suspected abuse is caused by someone other than a family member, or in which the abuse involves sexual abuse or severe injury to the child, are considered crimes and must be cross-reported to law enforcement agencies for investigation.¹

In nine States, child protective and law enforcement agencies are required to coordinate investigations and share information in order to minimize the number of times individual children are interviewed.² Five States require information sharing among multidisciplinary teams that conduct assessments and provide services to families.³

To access the statutes for a specific State or territory, visit the State Statutes Search.

¹ The word approximately is used to stress the fact that States frequently amend their laws. This information is current only through January 2010. The States that require child protective services agencies to cross-report specific types of abuse to law enforcement agencies include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. back
² Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota (in cases involving criminal abuse allegations), Ohio, Virginia, and Wyoming. back
³ Delaware, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. back

This publication is a product of the State Statutes Series prepared by Child Welfare Information Gateway. While every attempt has been made to be as complete as possible, additional information on these topics may be in other sections of a State's code as well as agency regulations, case law, and informal practices and procedures.

Email Print (PDF 280 KB)   Share