The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) requires each state to have provisions or procedures for requiring certain individuals to report known or suspected instances of child abuse and neglect. According to CFOP, if during an investigation or ongoing services, any new incident of abuse, neglect, abandonment or exploitation of a child that occurs must be reported. An insufficient safety plan or a continuation of family conditions associated with the danger threats are not a basis for a call to the hotline.

Many cases of child abuse and neglect are not reported, even when mandated by law. Therefore, nearly every state imposes penalties, often in the form of a fine or imprisonment, on mandatory reporters who fail to report suspected child abuse or neglect as required by law.

In Florida, the following individuals are considered professionally mandated reporters:

• Physicians, osteopaths, medical examiners, chiropractors, nurses, or hospital personnel
• Other health or mental health professionals
• Practitioners who rely solely on spiritual means for healing
• Teachers or other school officials or personnel
• Social workers, daycare center workers, or other professional childcare, foster care, residential, or institutional workers
• Law enforcement officers or judges

In the state of Florida, EVERYONE is a mandatory reporter. The law states that any person who knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that a child is abused, neglected, or abandoned by a parent, legal custodian, caregiver, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare shall immediately report such knowledge to the hotline.

Types of child abuse and neglect that must be referred to the Child Protection Team but must first be reported to the Hotline include:  

• Injuries to the head, bruises to the neck or head, burns, or fractures in a child of any age.
• Bruises anywhere on a child five years of age or younger.
• Any report alleging sexual abuse of a child.
• Any sexually transmitted disease in a prepubescent child.
• Reported malnutrition or failure of a child to thrive.
• Reported medical neglect of a child.
• Symptoms of serious emotional problems in a child when emotional or other abuse, abandonment, or neglect is suspected.
• A sibling or other child remaining in a home where one or more children have been pronounced dead on arrival or have been injured and later died as a result of suspected abuse, abandonment or neglect.

If you suspect that a child is being abused or neglected, you must call the Florida Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-96-ABUSE (1-800-962-2873). 

RESOURCE: Child Welfare Information Gateway.