Immunity from liability. (23 Pa.C.S. § 6318)

1. General rule.—A person, hospital, institution, school, facility, agency or agency employee acting in good faith shall have immunity from civil and criminal liability that might otherwise result from any of the following:
   1. Making a report of suspected child abuse or making a referral for general protective services, regardless of whether the report is required to be made under the PA CPSL.
   2. Cooperating or consulting with an investigation under the PA CPSL, including providing information to a child fatality or near-fatality review team.
   3. Testifying in a proceeding arising out of an instance of suspected child abuse or general protective services.
   4. Engaging in any action authorized under 23 Pa.C.S. § 6314 (relating to photographs, medical tests and X-rays of child subject to report), § 6315 (relating to taking child into protective custody), § 6316 (relating to admission to private and public hospitals) or 6317 (relating to mandatory reporting and postmortem investigation of deaths).
2. Departmental and county agency immunity.—An official or employee of the department or county agency who refers a report of suspected child abuse for general protective services to law enforcement authorities or provides services as authorized by the PA CPSL shall have immunity from civil and criminal liability that might otherwise result from the action.
3. Presumption of good faith.—For the purpose of any civil or criminal proceeding, the good faith of a person required to report (relating to persons required to report suspected child abuse) and of any person required to make a referral to law enforcement officers under the PA CPSL shall be presumed.

• Departmental and county agency immunity.—An official or employee of the department or county agency who refers a report of suspected child abuse for general protective services to law enforcement authorities or provides services as authorized by the PA CPSL shall have immunity from civil and criminal liability that might otherwise result from the action.
• Presumption of good faith.—For the purpose of any civil or criminal proceeding, the good faith of a person required to report (relating to persons required to report suspected child abuse) and of any person required to make a referral to law enforcement officers under the PA CPSL shall be presumed.

Upon notification, the person in charge or the designated agent, if any, shall facilitate the cooperation of the institution, school, facility, or agency with the investigation of the report. Any intimidation, retaliation, or obstruction in the investigation of the report is subject to the provisions of 18 Pa.C.S. § 4958 (relating to intimidation, retaliation, or obstruction in child abuse cases). PA CPSL does not require more than one report from any such institution, school, facility, or agency.

10.1 Penalties for Failure to Report or Refer

(Updates to the Child Protective Services Law, Act 88 of 2019, 23 Pa. C.S. § 6319)

A mandated reporter who willfully fails to report child abuse is breaking the law. Act 88 of 2019 updates the CPSL (23 Pa. C.S. § 6319) to clarify and increase penalties for failure to report child abuse. Mandated reporters who willfully fail to report child abuse are now subject to felony offenses in the second or third degree. The degree of the offense is dependent upon the severity of the unreported child abuse as well as history of previous failure to report offenses.

Penalties range from a misdemeanor of the second degree to a felony of the second degree:

1. A person or official required by the PA CPSL to report a case of suspected child abuse or to make a referral to the appropriate authorities commits an offense if the person or official willfully fails to do so.
2. An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree if:
   1. The person or official willfully fails to report;
   2. The child abuse constitutes a felony of the first degree or higher; and
   3. The person or official has direct knowledge of the nature of the abuse.
3. An offense not otherwise specified in paragraph (2) is a misdemeanor of the second degree.
4. A report of suspected child abuse to law enforcement or the appropriate county agency by a mandated reporter, made in lieu of a report to DHS, shall not constitute an offense under this subsection, provided that the report was made in a good faith effort to comply with the requirements of the PA CPSL.

Continuing course of action:

If a person’s willful failure to report an individual suspected of child abuse continues while the person knows or has reasonable cause to suspect a child is being subjected to child abuse by the same individual, or while the person knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that the same individual continues to have direct contact with children through the individual’s employment, program, activity, or service, the person commits a felony of the third degree…except that, if the child abuse constitutes a felony of the first degree or higher, the person commits a felony of the second degree.

Multiple offenses:

A person who, at the time of sentencing for an offense under this section, has been convicted of a prior offense under this section commits a felony of the third degree…except that, if the child abuse constitutes a felony of the first degree or higher, the penalty for the second or subsequent offenses is a felony of the second degree.

Statute of limitations:

The statute of limitations for an offense under this section shall be either the statute of limitations for the crime committed against the minor child or five years, whichever is greater.

10.2 Investigation of Reports (23 Pa.C.S. § 6368)

Notice to mandated reporter—If a report was made by a mandated reporter, DHS shall notify the mandated reporter who made the report of suspected child abuse of all of the following within three (3) business days of DHS’s receipt of the results of the investigation:

1. Whether the child abuse report is founded, indicated, or unfounded.
2. Any services provided, arranged for, or to be provided by the county agency to protect the child.

10.3 Barriers to Reporting

Certain factors create challenges for healthcare professionals dealing with the reporting of suspected child abuse. This can include a poor understanding or confusion about state laws and regulations related to who are mandated reporters and what precisely they are required to do (Herendeen et al, 2014). This is especially true with child sexual abuse.

Healthcare professionals may question their own ability to identify abuse and may be dissuaded by others (colleagues, coworkers) who do not agree with their analysis. A lack of confidence in child protective service agencies, whether based on perception or previous experience is also cited as a barrier to reporting (Herendeen et al, 2014).

Other factors associated with a reluctance to report child abuse (Lynne et al., 2015):

• A failure to recognize maltreatment.
• Disagreement on what constitutes reasonable suspicion.
• Lack of training on how to report child maltreatment.
• A wish to avoid administrative hurdles.
• A lack of trust in child protective services.
• A suspicion that a report will not benefit the family.

10.4 Protection from Employment Discrimination (23 Pa.C.S. § 6320)

1. Basis for relief—a person may commence an action for appropriate relief if all of the following apply:
   1. The person is required to report suspected child abuse under section 6311 (relating to persons required to report suspected child abuse) or encouraged to report suspected child abuse under section 6312 (relating to persons encouraged to report suspected child abuse).
   2. The person acted in good faith in making or causing the report of suspected child abuse to be made.
   3. As a result of making the report of suspected child abuse, the person is discharged from employment or is discriminated against with respect to compensation, hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.
2. Applicability—This section does not apply to an individual making a report of suspected child abuse who is found to be a perpetrator because of the report or to any individual who fails to make a report of suspected child abuse as required under section 6311 (relating to persons required to report suspected child abuse) and is subject to conviction under section 6319 (relating to penalties) for failure to report or to refer.

10.5 Privileged/Confidential Communications

Confidentiality of reports (23 Pa.C.S. § 6339)—Except as otherwise provided in subchapter C of the PA CPSL (relating to powers and duties of department) or by the Pennsylvania Rules of Juvenile Court Procedure, reports made pursuant to the PA CPSL, including, but not limited to, report summaries of child abuse and reports made pursuant to section 6313 (relating to reporting procedure) as well as any other information obtained, reports written, or photographs or X-rays taken concerning alleged instances of child abuse in the possession of DHS or a county agency shall be confidential.

To address the issue of privileged and confidential communications, the following changes were made to statute § 6311.1, which also describes confidential communications with the clergy:

1. General rule.—Subject to subsection (b), (relating to confidential communications) the privileged communications between a mandated reporter and a patient or client of the mandated reporter shall not:
   1. Apply to a situation involving child abuse.
   2. Relieve the mandated reporter of the duty to make a report of suspected child abuse.
2. Confidential communications.—The following protections shall apply:
   1. Confidential communications made to a member of the clergy are protected under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5943 (relating to confidential communications to clergymen).
   2. Confidential communications made to an attorney are protected so long as they are within the scope of 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 5916 (relating to confidential communications to attorney) and 5928 (relating to confidential communications to attorney), the attorney work product doctrine or the rules of professional conduct for attorneys.

10.6 Protecting Identity

Protecting identity—Except for reports under section 6340(a)(9) and (10) of the PA CPSL and in response to a law enforcement official investigating allegations of false reports under 18 Pa.C.S. § 4906.1 (relating to false reports of child abuse), the release of data by DHS, county, institution, school, facility, or agency or designated agent of the person in charge that would identify the person who made a report of suspected child abuse or who cooperated in a subsequent investigation is prohibited. Law enforcement officials shall treat all reporting sources as confidential informants.