States

Reporting Requirements

Abuse and Sexual Abuse Defined

California

Known or reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect.

"Reasonable suspicion" means objectively reasonable for a person to entertain a suspicion, based upon facts that could cause a reasonable person in a like position, drawing, when appropriate, on his or her training and experience, to suspect child abuse or neglect. The pregnancy of a minor does not, in and of itself, constitute a basis for a reasonable suspicion of sexual abuse.

"Sexual abuse" means sexual assault or sexual exploitation as defined by the following:

"Sexual assault" includes rape, statutory rape, rape in concert, incest, sodomy, lewd or lascivious acts upon a child, oral copulation, sexual penetration, or child molestation.

Conduct described as "sexual assault" includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:

_ Any penetration, however slight, of the vagina or anal opening of one person by the penis of another person, whether or not there is the emission of semen.

_ Any sexual contact between the genitals or anal opening of one person and the mouth or tongue of another person.

_ Any intrusion by one person into the genitals or anal opening of another person, including the use of any object for this purpose, except that, it does not include acts performed for a valid medical purpose.

_ The intentional touching of the genitals or intimate parts (including the breasts, genital area, groin, inner thighs, and buttocks) or the clothing covering them, of a child, or of the perpetrator by a child, for purposes of sexual arousal or gratification, except that, it does not include acts which may reasonably be construed to be normal caretaker responsibilities; interactions with, or demonstrations of affection for, the child; or acts performed for a valid medical purpose;

_ The intentional masturbation of the perpetrator's genitals in the presence of a child.

"Sexual exploitation" refers to any of the following:

_ Depicting a minor engaged in obscene acts in violation of law; preparing, selling, or distributing obscene matter that depicts minors; or employing a minor to perform obscene acts.

_ Knowingly promotes, aids, or assists, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a child (or any person responsible for a child's welfare, who knowingly permits or encourages a child) to engage in, or assist others to engage in, prostitution or a live performance involving obscene sexual conduct, or to either pose or model alone or with others for purposes of preparing a film, photograph, negative, slide, drawing, painting, or other pictorial depiction, involving obscene sexual conduct.

_ "Person responsible for a child's welfare" means a parent, guardian, foster parent, or a licensed administrator or employee of a public or private residential home, residential school, or other residential institution.

_ Depicting a child in, or who knowingly developing, duplicating, printing, or exchanging, any film, photograph, video tape, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except for those activities by law enforcement and prosecution agencies and other persons.

"Child abuse" means a physical injury, which is inflicted by other than accidental means on a child by another person. The term "child abuse or neglect" includes sexual abuse, neglect, willful cruelty or unjustifiable punishment, unlawful corporal punishment or injury, and abuse or neglect in out-of-home care, as defined in this article.

"Child abuse or neglect" does not include a mutual affray between minors.

Delaware

Allegations of abuse or neglect.

"Abuse" must mean any physical injury to a child by those responsible for the care, custody, and control of the child through unjustified force, emotional abuse, torture, criminally negligent treatment, sexual abuse, exploitation, maltreatment or mistreatment.

Florida

Known or suspected child abuse, abandonment, or neglect. If the report is an instance of known or suspected child abuse involving impregnation of a child under 16 years of age by a person 21 years of age or older, the report must be made immediately to the appropriate county sheriff's office or other appropriate law enforcement agency.

"Sexual abuse of a child" means:

_ Any vaginal or anal penetration of one person by the penis of another person.

_ Any sexual contact between the genitals or anal opening of one person and the mouth or tongue of another person.

_ Any intrusion by one person into the genitals or anal opening of another person, including the use of any object for this purpose, except that this does not include any act intended for a valid medical purpose.

_ The intentional touching of the genitals or intimate parts, including the breasts, genital area, groin, inner thighs, and buttocks, or the clothing covering them, of either the child or the perpetrator, except that this does not include:
- Any act which may be reasonably construed to be a normal caregiver responsibility, any interaction with, or affection for a child; or
- Any act intended for a valid medical purpose.

_ The intentional masturbation of the perpetrator's genitals in the presence of a child.

_ The intentional exposure of the perpetrator's genitals in the presence of a child, or any other sexual act intentionally perpetrated in the presence of a child, if such exposure or sexual act is for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification, aggression, degradation, or other similar purpose.

_ The sexual exploitation of a child, which includes allowing, encouraging, or forcing a child to: - Solicit for or engage in prostitution; or - Engage in a sexual performance.

Georgia

Reasonable belief that a child has been abused.

"Child abuse" means:

_ Physical injury or death inflicted upon a child by a parent or caretaker thereof by other than accidental means; provided, however, physical forms of discipline may be used as long as there is no physical injury to the child;

_ Neglect or exploitation of a child by a parent or caretaker thereof;

_ Sexual abuse of a child; or

_ Sexual exploitation of a child.

"Sexual abuse" means a person's employing, using, persuading, inducing, enticing, or coercing any minor who is not that person's spouse to engage in any act which involves:

_ Sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex;

_ Bestiality;

_ Masturbation;

_ Lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person;

_ Flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude;

_ Condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained on the part of a person who is nude;

_ Physical contact in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or gratification with any person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, or buttocks or with a female's clothed or unclothed breasts;

_ Defecation or urination for the purpose of sexual stimulation; or

_ Penetration of the vagina or rectum by any object except when done as part of a recognized medical procedure.

"Sexual exploitation" means conduct by a child's parent or caretaker who allows, permits, encourages, or requires the child to engage in:

_ Prostitution

_ Sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual or print medium depicting such conduct

"Sexual abuse" does not include consensual sex acts involving persons of the opposite sex when the sex acts are between minors or between a minor and an adult who is not more than five years older than the minor. This provision must not be deemed or construed to repeal any law concerning the age or capacity to consent.

Maryland

Reasonable belief that a child has been abused or neglected.

"Abuse" means sexual abuse of a child, whether or not physical injuries are sustained.

"Sexual abuse" means any act that involves sexual molestation or exploitation of a child by a parent or other person who has permanent or temporary care or custody or responsibility for supervision of a child, or by any household or family member. "Sexual abuse" includes:

Incest, rape, or sexual offense in any degree;

Sodomy; and Unnatural or perverted sexual practices.

Michigan

Reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect.

"Child abuse" means harm or threatened harm to a child's health or welfare by a parent, legal guardian, or any other person responsible for the child's health or welfare, or by a teacher or teacher's aide, that occurs through non-accidental physical or mental injury; sexual abuse; sexual exploitation; or maltreatment.

"Sexual abuse'" means engaging in sexual contact or sexual penetration as those terms are defined in the Michigan penal code.

"Sexual exploitation" includes allowing, permitting, or encouraging, a child to engage in prostitution, or allowing, permitting, encouraging, or engaging in the photographing, filming, or depicting of a child engaged in a listed sexual act as defined in law.

Montana

Knowledge or reasonable suspicion that a child is abused or neglected.

"Child abuse" or "neglect" mean actual harm to a child's health or welfare or substantial risk of harm to a child's health or welfare. It includes actual harm or substantial risk of harm by the acts or omissions of a person responsible for the child's welfare. The term does not include self-defense, defense of others, or action taken to prevent the child from self-harm that does not constitute harm to a child's health or welfare.

"Sexual abuse" means the commission of sexual assault, sexual intercourse without consent, indecent exposure, deviate sexual conduct, ritual abuse, or incest. Sexual abuse does not include any necessary touching of an infant's or toddler's genital area while attending to the sanitary or health care needs of that infant or toddler by a parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare.

"Sexual exploitation" means allowing, permitting, or encouraging a child to engage in a prostitution offense, or allowing, permitting, or encouraging sexual abuse of children.

New Mexico

Knowledge or reasonable suspicion that a child is abused or neglected

"Abused child" means a child:

_ Who has suffered or is at risk of suffering serious harm because of the action or inaction of the child's parent, guardian, or custodian;

_ Who has suffered physical abuse, emotional abuse, or psychological abuse inflicted or caused by the child's parent, guardian, or custodian;

_ Who has suffered sexual abuse or exploitation inflicted by the child's parent, guardian, or custodian; or

_ Whose parent, guardian, or custodian has knowingly, intentionally, or negligently placed the child in a situation that may endanger the child's life or health.

"Sexual abuse" includes, but is not limited to, criminal sexual contact, incest or criminal sexual penetration, as state law defines those acts.

"Sexual exploitation" includes, but is not limited to:

_ Allowing, permitting, or encouraging a child to engage in prostitution;

_ Allowing, permitting, encouraging, or engaging a child in obscene or pornographic photographing; or

_ Filming or depicting a child for obscene or pornographic commercial purposes.

Oklahoma

Reasonable belief that a child under the age of 18 years is a victim of abuse or neglect.

"Abuse" means harm or threatened harm to a child's health, safety or welfare by a person responsible for the child's health, safety or welfare including sexual abuse and sexual exploitation.

"Harm or threatened harm to a child's health or safety" includes, but is not limited to:

_ Non-accidental physical or mental injury,

_ Sexual abuse,

_ Sexual exploitation,

_ Neglect,

_ Failure or omission to provide protection from harm or threatened harm, or

_ Abandonment.

"Sexual abuse" includes, but is not limited to, rape, incest and lewd or indecent acts or proposals, as defined by law, by a person responsible for the child's health, safety or welfare.

"Sexual exploitation" includes, but is not limited to:

_ Allowing, permitting, or encouraging a child to engage in prostitution, as defined by law, by a person responsible for the child's health, safety or welfare; or

_ Allowing, permitting, encouraging, or engaging in the lewd, obscene, or pornographic photographing, filming, or depicting of a child in those acts as defined by the State law, by a person responsible for the child's health, safety or welfare.

Pennsylvania

Reasonable suspicion that a child is abused.

"Child abuse" means any of the following.

_ An act or failure to act by a perpetrator which causes non-accidental serious mental injury to, or sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of, a child under 18 years of age; or

_ Any recent act, failure to act, or series of such acts or failures to act by a perpetrator which creates an imminent risk of serious physical injury to, or sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of, a child under 18 years of age.

"Perpetrator" means a person who has committed child abuse and is a parent of a child, a person responsible for the welfare of a child, an individual residing in the same home as a child, or a paramour of a child's parent.

South Dakota

Suspicions of child abuse or neglect.

"Abused or neglected child" means a child:

_ Whose parent, guardian, or custodian, has abandoned the child or has subjected the child to mistreatment or abuse;

_ Whose environment is injurious to the child's welfare; or

_ Who is subject to sexual abuse, sexual molestation, or sexual exploitation by the child's parent, guardian, custodian, or any other person responsible for the child's care.

Tennessee

Knowledge of or called upon to render aid to any child who is suffering from or has sustained any wound, injury, disability, or physical or mental condition which is of such a nature as to reasonably indicate that it has been caused by brutality, abuse or neglect or which on the basis of available information reasonably appears to have been caused by brutality, abuse, or neglect.

Any person, who knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that a child has been sexually abused, must report such information in accordance with statute, relative to the sexual abuse of children, regardless of whether such person knows or believes that the child has sustained any apparent injury as a result of such abuse.

Every physician or other person who makes a diagnosis of, or treats, or prescribes for any venereal disease, venereal herpes and chlamydia, in children 13 years of age or younger in which there is a case of any of the diseases in children 13 years of age or younger must report the case immediately, in writing.

"Abuse" exists when a person under the age of 18 is suffering from, has sustained, or may be in immediate danger of suffering from or sustaining a wound, injury, disability or physical or mental condition caused by brutality, neglect or other actions or inactions of a parent, relative, guardian, or caretaker.

"Child sexual abuse" means the commission of any act involving the unlawful sexual abuse, molestation, fondling, or carnal knowledge of a child under 13 years of age that on or after November 1, 1989, constituted the criminal offense of:

_ Aggravated rape,

_ Rape,

_ Aggravated sexual battery;

_ Sexual battery,

_ Criminal attempt for any of the offenses listed above,

_ Incest,

_ Sexual exploitation of a minor,

_ Aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, or

_ Especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor.

"Child sexual abuse" also means one or more of the following acts:

_ Any penetration, however slight, of the vagina or anal opening of one person by the penis of another person, whether or not there is the emission of semen;

_ Any contact between the genitals or anal opening of one person and the mouth or tongue of another person;

_ Any intrusion by one person into the genitals or anal opening of another person, including the use of any object for this purpose, except that it must not include acts intended for a valid medical purpose;

_ The intentional touching of the genitals or intimate parts, including the breasts, genital area, groin, inner thighs, and buttocks, or the clothing covering them, of either the child or the perpetrator, except that it must not include:
-Acts which may reasonably be construed to be normal caretaker responsibilities, interactions with, or affection for a child; or
- Acts intended for a valid medical purpose;

_ The intentional exposure of the perpetrator's genitals in the presence of a child, or any other sexual act intentionally perpetrated in the presence of a child, if such exposure or sexual act is for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification, aggression, degradation, or other similar purpose; or

_ The sexual exploitation of a child, which includes allowing, encouraging, or forcing a child to:
-Solicit for or engage in prostitution or
-Engage in an act prohibited by criminal statute regarding sexual exploitation of a minor.

"Child sexual abuse" also means the commission of any act specified above against a child 13 years of age through 17 years of age if such act is committed against the child by a parent, guardian, relative, person residing in the child's home, or other person responsible for the care and custody of the child.