6.1 Who Is Mandated to Report?

Mandated reporters are those individuals who are required by law to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR), operated by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) [SSL §413] (NYSOCFS, 2025).

Mandated reporters are mandated to make a report, or cause a report to be made, when they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child coming before them in their professional or official capacity is abused or maltreated, or when they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child is an abused or maltreated child where the parent, guardian, custodian or person legally responsible for the child comes before them in their professional or official capacity and states from personal knowledge facts, conditions, or circumstances which, if correct, would render the child an abused or maltreated child (NYSOCFS, 2025).

6.1.1 What Is Reasonable Cause to Suspect?

Reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or maltreatment means that, based on your factual observations, professional training, and experience, you have a suspicion that a parent or other person legally responsible for a child is responsible for harming that child or placing that child in imminent danger of harm. Your suspicion can be as simple as distrusting an explanation for an injury (SSL §413; NYSOCFS, 2024 May 2).

Distrust or doubt is enough; inconsistent explanations that do not match your observations or knowledge may be the cause of reasonable suspicion. You do not have to be positive, nor do you have to have proof the abuse or maltreatment is occurring or has occurred. When you have reasonable cause to suspect, it is your duty as a mandated reporter to call the SCR immediately and make a report.

Your duty is not relieved because another agency or individual has filed or may have filed a report. You must file a report as well. The sooner an incident is reported, the sooner protection for the child and assistance to the family can be provided. In addition, what you observe may be different from what others report, and all the information together is relevant to the SCR to determine whether to register a report.

When analyzing a situation for reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or maltreatment, organize your thinking by asking yourself these four questions:

1. What indicators are present?
2. Is there reasonable cause to suspect abuse or maltreatment?
3. Is there a parent or other person responsible for the suspected abuse or maltreatment?
4. What are my next steps?

6.1.2 What Is Professional Capacity?

Mandated reporters are required to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment when they are presented with a reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or maltreatment in a situation where a child, parent, or other person legally responsible* for the child is before the mandated reporter when the mandated reporter is acting in their official or professional capacity (NYSOFCS, 2024 April).

*Other person legally responsible: a guardian, caretaker, or other person 18 years of age or older who is responsible for the care of the child.

Individuals operating in their professional role are legally mandated to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment whenever they are practicing their profession. For example, a doctor who is examining a child in their practice and has a reasonable suspicion that the child is experiencing abuse must report their concern (NYSOFCS, 2024 April).

In contrast, a doctor who witnesses child abuse when riding her bike while off-duty is not legally mandated to report that abuse but may choose to report. The mandated reporter’s legal responsibility to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment ceases when the mandated reporter stops practicing their profession (NYSOFCS, 2024 April).

Note: Please see also other cases in Module 11: Scenarios for Mandated Reporters to Consider.

6.2 Person Legally Responsible

Knowing who has caused harm to a child is a significant factor in determining how to proceed. According to the Family Court Act (Fam. Ct. Act §1012(g)), persons legally responsible include the child's custodian, guardian, or any other person 18 years old or older responsible for the child's care at the relevant time. Custodian may include any person continually or at regular intervals found in the same household as the child when the conduct of such person causes or contributes to the abuse or maltreatment of the child.

The SCR only registers a report against a parent, guardian, or other person eighteen years of age or older who is legally responsible for the child. Once the SCR registers a report, the person named as causing the harm to the child becomes the subject of the report.

Teachers in most public or private schools do not qualify as subjects of reports when they are acting as teachers. They may be subjects when the incident involves their own child or a child for whom they have legal responsibility outside their role as a teacher.

6.3 Liability and Immunity

A mandated reporter’s willful failure to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment is a Class A misdemeanor (punishable by up to a year in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000) and the mandated reporter can also be held civilly liable for the damages proximately caused by the failure to report [SSL 420]. When a commissioner of social services in a LDSS has reasonable cause to suspect that a mandated reporter has willfully failed to report a case of suspected child abuse or maltreatment, the commissioner must inform the district attorney of the suspected failure [18 NYCRR 432.8] (NYSOFCS, 2025).

CPS is required by law to refer to the appropriate law enforcement agency or district attorney, any case where CPS suspects the reporter knowingly made a false report of child abuse or maltreatment. Any person making a child abuse or maltreatment report who knows the information reported to be false or baseless may be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

6.3.1 Immunity from Liability

All mandated reporters who have reported suspected child abuse or maltreatment are presumed to have done so in good faith if they made the report during the discharge of their duties and within the scope of their employment. Mandated reporters who report, take photographs, take protective custody of a child, or disclose CPS information in compliance with the Social Services Law are immune from both civil and criminal liability for actions taken in good faith [SSL §419]. This immunity does not prevent civil or criminal proceedings from being filed, but presumed good faith provides a defense against libel, slander, invasion of privacy, false arrest and other types of law suits that might be filed by persons who feel that their rights were violated, provided that the person was acting without willful misconduct or gross negligence [SSL §419; FCA §1024(c)] (NYSOCFS, 2025).

6.3.2 Source Confidentiality

Social Services Law provides confidentiality for mandated reporters and all sources of child abuse and maltreatment reports. The Office of Child and Family Services and local CPS units are not permitted to release to the subject of the report any data that would identify the source of a report unless the source has given written permission for them to do so. Information regarding the source of the report may be shared with court officials, police, and district attorneys, but only in certain circumstances (NYSOFCS, 2024 April).

6.3.3 Protection from Retaliatory Personnel Action

Section 413 of the Social Services Law specifies that no medical or other public or private institution, school, facility, or agency shall take any retaliatory personnel action against an employee who made a report to the Statewide Central Register. Furthermore, no school, school official, childcare provider, foster care provider, or mental health facility provider shall impose any conditions, including prior approval or prior notification, upon a member of their staff mandated to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment (NYSOFCS, 2024 April).

6.4 Imminent Danger

Imminent danger means that a child is unsafe or at immediate risk or substantial risk of harm. Imminent danger considers the distance between a child and the harm created by a parent’s (or other person legally responsible) actions or failure to act. The danger to the child must be immediate or nearly immediate.

When assessing imminent danger, apply the standard of reasonableness: Ask yourself, “Is it reasonable to believe an intervention could occur?” If the answer is yes, then there is no immediate danger. If the answer is no, then it is reasonable to assume that harm could occur and there is imminent danger.

For example, if a parent swings an object at a child’s head and misses, the danger is imminent. The only additional thing needed for injury would have been for the parent to succeed rather than miss. In this instance, it is reasonable to believe this could have happened.

If a child is in imminent danger, first call 911 or the police department, and then call the Statewide Central Registry (SCR). Scenarios in which such action might be appropriate could include a parent who arrives to pick up their child from an appointment, is driving their own car, smells of alcohol, and has clearly been drinking; or a home visit reveals several young children fighting while in the care of a 12-year-old sibling who cannot control them and has no idea where the parents are.

6.5 Law Enforcement Referrals

If a call to the SCR provides information about an immediate threat to a child or a crime committed against a child, but the perpetrator is not a parent or other person legally responsible for the child, the SCR staff will make a Law Enforcement Referral (LER). The relevant information will be recorded and transmitted to the New York State Police Information Network or to the New York City Special Victims Liaison Unit. This is not a CPS report, and local CPS will not be involved (NSOCSF, 2024 April).

6.5.1 When to Report to the Justice Center

The Protection of People with Special Needs Act (Act) requires persons who are mandated reporters to report abuse, neglect, and significant incidents involving vulnerable persons to the Vulnerable Persons’ Central Register (VPCR) operated by the NYS Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs (http://www.justicecenter.ny.gov/).

Under the Act, mandated reporters to the SCR are also mandated reporters to the VPCR, except for daycare providers and staff. Daycare providers and staff are mandated reporters to the SCR, but not to the VPCR.

Effective June 30, 2013, persons who are mandated reporters under the Act have a legal duty to:

• Report to the Justice Center, by calling the VPCR at 855 373 2122, if they have reasonable cause to suspect abuse or neglect of a Vulnerable Person, including any person receiving residential services in a facility operated by, or provider agency facility licensed or certified by, the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS).
• Report all Significant Incidents regarding vulnerable persons to the Justice Center by calling the VPCR at: 855 373 2122.
• Continue to call the SCR if they have reasonable cause to suspect abuse or maltreatment of children in family and foster homes, as well as day care settings. Suspicion of child abuse or maltreatment in a day care setting, foster care, or within a family home must continue to be reported to the SCR at 800 635 1522.

Note: If you are confused about where to call, the trained professionals at either location can help you get to the right place. The most important thing is to make the call!

6.5.2 Mandated Reporter Records

Upon request, CPS may obtain from the mandated reporter any records that are essential to a full investigation of alleged child abuse and maltreatment. The mandated reporter must determine which records are essential to the full investigation and provide those records to CPS when requested to do so. Within 60 days of initiating the investigation, CPS will determine whether the report is indicated or unfounded. Mandated reporters may ask to be informed of the outcome of the report (NYSOFCS, 2024 April).

Written reports from mandated reporters are admissible in evidence in any proceedings relating to child abuse or maltreatment. It is important to be aware that Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) regulations state that HIPAA privacy rules do not apply to reporting of child abuse. Exceptions stipulate that healthcare providers suspecting child abuse or maltreatment must make a report and provide material in accordance with state law.

The mandated reporter makes the first determination of what information being sought by CPS is essential to its investigation. If CPS is requesting additional information that the reporter is unwilling to release, CPS should clearly explain how the records are pertinent. If the reporter still does not produce the reports, CPS can provide an appropriate authorization or release or obtain a court order requiring the records be produced.

6.6 The Abandoned Infant Protection Act

New York State’s Abandoned Infant Protection Act (AIPA) allows a person who abandons an infant to avoid criminal liability. The person must, however, act in a safe manner that will not result in physical harm to the infant.

In 2010, the law removed criminal liability for the crimes of Abandonment of a Child and Endangering Welfare of a Child when a parent, guardian, or other legally responsible person abandons an infant under the following conditions:

1. The abandoned infant is no more than 30 days old;
2. The person who abandons the infant intends that the infant will be safe from physical injury and appropriately cared for;
3. The person leaves the infant with an appropriate person or leaves the baby in a suitable location and immediately notifies an appropriate person of the infant’s location; and
4. The person must intend to wholly abandon the infant by relinquishing responsibility for and rights to the care and custody of the infant (NYSOCFS, 2016).

AIPA does not affect the responsibilities of a mandated reporter, amend the law regarding mandated reporters, nor does it change or lessen a reporter’s obligations. Mandated reporters who learn of an abandoned infant, even if they do not know the name of the person leaving the child, must make a report to the SCR (NYSOCFS, 2016).