CO: Does mandatory reporting of child abuse help or hurt? A Colorado task force is taking a second look.

Source: coloradosun.com 3/7/23 A newly launched state task force is only the second in the nation to look closely at reforming policies that have gone unchallenged for decades. Every person with a conscience is against child abuse. But for the first time in decades, policymakers are giving the most widely used intervention in child abuse cases — mandatory reporting — a second look.  In Colorado, a task force born of calls to strengthen mandatory reporting laws after a horrific abuse case has grown into something different: a look at whether…

Read More

Australia: Up to 3 years in prison for not reporting a “belief of sexual offending against a child”

Source: lexology.com 7/7/21 In brief – important development in Queensland’s child protection laws will take effect in term three. Recently, the Queensland Government, through the Criminal Code (Child Sexual Offences Reform) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (Qld) (Amendment Act), has made several key amendments to the Queensland Criminal Code to provide greater protection to children from sexual abuse. In particular, the Amendment Act will, from 5 July 2021: make it an offence for any adult not to report a belief of sexual offending against a child by another adult…

Read More

MI: Michigan lawmakers advance legislation on mandated reporters

[mytwintiers.com 5/23/18] LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Sports coaches, the types of paid employees who allegedly learned Larry Nassar was molesting gymnasts and other athletes before the sexual abuse scandal broke, would still not be required to report such suspected abuse to the authorities under a watered-down proposal to expand Michigan’s mandatory reporting law. A state House committee on Wednesday passed a bill that would add physical therapists, physical therapist assistants and – in a reversal from a day earlier – athletic trainers to the list of mandatory reporters. But it…

Read More

Coalition Urges CA Governor: Protect Patients, Stop Gutting Confidentiality

(Los Angeles, California, August 20, 2014) — A coalition of nonprofits alarmed about the gutting of patient confidentiality urges California Governor Jerry Brown to veto pending legislation that requires mental health practitioners to police their patients and report a growing list of statements to law enforcement—or face prosecution and potential jail time. Full Article

Read More