Cross-Reporting Among Agencies That Respond to Child Abuse and Neglect - Wisconsin

Cross-Reporting Between Child Protective Services and Law Enforcement

Citation: Ann. Stat. § 48.981(3)(a)

A mandatory reporter immediately shall inform, by telephone or personally, the county department; or, in a county having a population of 750,000 or more, the Department of Children and Families or a licensed child welfare agency; or the sheriff or city, village, or town police department of the facts and circumstances contributing to a suspicion of child abuse or neglect or of unborn child abuse or to a belief that abuse or neglect will occur.

The sheriff or police department shall within 12 hours, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays, refer to the department or agency all the following types of cases reported to the sheriff or police department:

• Cases in which a caregiver is suspected of abuse or neglect or of threatened abuse or neglect of a child
• Cases in which a caregiver is suspected of facilitating or failing to take action to prevent the suspected or threatened abuse or neglect of a child
• Cases in which a person who is not a caregiver is suspected of abuse of a child
• Cases in which it cannot be determined who abused or neglected or threatened to abuse or neglect a child
• Cases in which there is reason to suspect that an unborn child has been abused or there is reason to believe that an unborn child is at substantial risk of abuse

A department or agency shall within 12 hours, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays, refer to the sheriff or police department all cases of suspected or threatened abuse reported to it. For cases of suspected or threatened abuse or neglect, each department or agency shall adopt a written policy specifying the kinds of reports it will routinely report to local law enforcement authorities.

If the report is of suspected or threatened abuse, the sheriff or police department and the county department, department, or agency shall coordinate the planning and execution of the investigation of the report.

Other Reporting Requirements

Citation: Ann. Stat. § 48.981(3)(bm)

In a county that has wholly or partially within its boundaries a federally recognized Indian reservation or a Bureau of Indian Affairs service area for the Ho-Chunk Tribe, if a county department that receives a report pertaining to a child or unborn child knows or has reason to know that the child is an Indian child who resides in the county or that the unborn child is an Indian unborn child whose expectant mother resides in the county, the county department shall provide notice, which shall consist only of the name and address of the Indian child or expectant mother and the fact that a report has been received about that Indian child or Indian unborn child, within 24 hours to one of the following:

• If the county department knows with which Indian Tribe the child is affiliated or with which Indian Tribe the Indian unborn child, when born, may be eligible for affiliation, and the Indian Tribe is a Wisconsin Indian tribe, the Tribal agent of that Tribe
• If the county department does not know with which Indian Tribe the child is affiliated or with which Indian Tribe the Indian unborn child, when born, may be eligible for affiliation, or the child or expectant mother is not affiliated with a Wisconsin Indian Tribe, the Tribal agent serving the reservation or Ho-Chunk service area where the child or expectant mother resides
• If neither of these situations applies, any Tribal agent serving a reservation or Ho-Chunk service area in the county