Reporting Child Abuse

spaceAre you required to report incidents of child abuse and neglect? Yes. Failure to report the incidents may result in criminal misdemeanor charges per Texas Family Code 201.109. If you are among a few qualified professionals, you must report the incidents within 48 hours.

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spaceHowever, careful deliberation should be given to whether what is to be reported is child abuse and neglect or an opinion of child rearing and poor parenting. The results of involving CPS into a family unnecessarily can be catastrophic for all involved.

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spaceConsider the question of whether or not corporal punishment is abusive. While some may find the practice deplorable, studies have shown that the overwhelming majority of the country still use some form of coporal punishment in child rearing. A Texas court wrote the following in IN RE J.A.J., 225 S.W.3d 621 (TX 2006).

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spaceBut while many critics of corporal punishment contend the practice violates "children's rights" grounded in "their autonomy, dependence . . . capacity for development . . . [and] essential humanity," it is still widely employed in this country. At least 90 percent of American parents have used corporal punishment at some time in rearing their children. So prevalent is the practice that one sociologist has observed, "Were we speaking statistically, we would surely describe those parents who do not spank their children as deviants."

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spaceA 1992 Ohio study showed that 70 percent of 800 family physicians and 59 percent of 400 pediatricians supported spanking. Moreover, "[r]ecent research on parenting styles has found . . . that `authoritative' styles, characterized by strict discipline, high demands for obedience, and high levels of warmth, tend to produce better-adjusted children than non-authoritative styles." Finally, to the degree that corporal punishment is declining, at least one sociologist has suggested there may well be a direct correlation between the declining use of corporal punishment and rising juvenile violence.

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space.... However, it is "not a court's function to determine whether `parents measure up to an ideal, but to determine whether the child's welfare has been compromised.'" .... "We must take care not to create a legal standard from our personal notions of how best to discipline a child."

spacespacePlease report incidents of child abuse and neglect. Children should not suffer as others idly watch. Just take care that what is reported is child abuse and neglect.

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From the August 2009 CPS HANDBOOK SECTION 2121

2121 Legal Requirements for Reporting Abuse or Neglect

Any person who has cause to believe that a child is being abused or neglected is required by Texas law to contact CPS or law enforcement. Texas Family Code §§261.101(a); 261.103(a)

Mandatory Reporting for DFPS Staff and Other Professionals
A professional who has cause to believe that a child has been abused or neglected is required by law to report the abuse or neglect within 48 hours of becoming aware of the incident. The professional cannot delegate to or rely on another person to make the report.

For the purposes of reporting, other professionals are defined as persons who are:
· licensed or certified by the state;
OR
· employed by a facility licensed, certified, or operated by the state;
AND
· in the normal course of official duties or duties for which a license or certification is required, have direct contact with children.

The term professional includes:
· teachers;
· nurses;
· doctors;
· day-care employees;
· employees of a clinic or health care facility that provides reproductive services;
· juvenile probation officers; and
· juvenile detention or correctional officers. Texas Family Code §261.101(b)