All BAESS employees are mandatory reporters under the California Child Abuse Act.
1. Why Must You Report? The primary intent of the reporting law is to protect the child. Protecting the identified victim may also provide the opportunity to protect other potential victims. It is equally important to provide help for the suspected abuser. The report of abuse may be a catalyst for bringing about change in the home environment, which in turn may lower the risk of abuse.
2. What is Child Abuse? Child abuse and neglect, as defined in CANRA, includes: physical abuse, sexual abuse (including both sexual assault and sexual exploitation), willful cruelty or unjustified punishment, unlawful corporal punishment or injury, and neglect (including both acts and omissions). Please note that parents are legally allowed to punish their children. You must see physical evidence, like a bruise for it to be construed as unlawful corporal punishment.
3. What to Report The California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting ACT (CANRA) can be found in California Penal Code Sections 11164 – 11174.3. The following is a partial description of the statute. Mandated reporters should become familiar with the detailed requirements as they are set forth in CANRA. Under the law, when the victim is a child (a person under the age of 18) and the perpetrator is any person (including a child), the following types of abuse must be reported by all legally mandated reporters:
Physical abuse (PC 11165.6) is defined as physical injury inflicted by other than accidental means on a child, or intentionally injuring a child.
Child sexual abuse (PC 11165.1) includes sexual assault or sexual exploitation of anyone under the age of 18.
Sexual assault includes sex acts with children, intentional masturbation in the presence of children, and child molestation. Sexual exploitation includes preparing, selling, or distributing pornographic materials involving children; performances involving obscene sexual conduct; and child prostitution.
Willful cruelty or unjustified punishment (PC 11165.3) includes inflicting or permitting unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering, or the endangerment of the child’s person or health. “Mental suffering” in and of itself is not required to be reported; however, it may be reported. Penal Code11166.05 states: “Any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or who reasonably suspects that mental suffering has been inflicted upon a child or that his or her emotional well-being is endangered in any other way may report the known or suspected instance of child abuse or neglect to an agency specified in Section11165.9”. (The specified agencies include any police department, sheriff’s department, county probation department, if designated by the county to receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department.)
Unlawful corporal punishment or injury (PC 11165.4), willfully inflicted, resulting in a traumatic condition. Please note that parents are legally allowed to punish their children. You must see physical evidence, like a bruise for it to be construed as unlawful corporal punishment.
Neglect (PC11165.2) of a child, whether “severe” or “general,” must also be reported if the perpetrator is a person responsible for the child’s welfare. It includes both acts and omissions that harm or threaten to harm the child’s health or welfare.
General neglect means the failure of a caregiver of a child to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision, where no physical injury to the child has occurred.
Severe neglect means the intentional failure of a caregiver to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care where injury has occurred or is likely to occur. Severe neglect also includes those situations of neglect where any person having the care or custody of a child willfully causes or permits the person or health of the child to be placed in a situation such that his or her person or health is endangered. Any of the above types of abuse or neglect occurring in out-of-home care must also be reported (PC 11165.5). (For a discussion of newborns with a positive toxicology screen, or for information on child abuse in relation to domestic violence, see the “Frequently Asked Questions” section.)
Where do we report Child Abuse?
- A Police or Sheriff’s Department (not including a school district police department or school security department.)
or
- A County Probation Department, if designated by the county to receive child abuse reports.
or
- A County Welfare Department/County Child Protective Services.