Changes in the Mandated Reporter Law
to Affect Social Workers and Others:

Recent amendments to New York State Social Services Law (§413) have changed the process by which suspected child abuse must be reported to New York’s State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment. Chapter 193 of the laws of 2007, which went into effect on October 1, 2007, requires that mandated reporters of child abuse, including social workers, must report any suspicion of child abuse directly to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, rather than reporting the incident to a supervisor who would then often be expected to report the incident to the State Central Register.

In the past, many agency policies held that child abuse suspicions could only be reported to CPS by certain supervisory staff within the agency, while the person with first-hand knowledge of the event would still be legally liable for the execution and follow-up of the report. This policy change clarifies that the person with original suspicion of child abuse shall be the same person who files a report with the State Central Register. The statute then requires that the person who filed the report then notify “the person in charge [of the institution or agency], or the designated agent of such person.” At that point, such person in charge shall be responsible for any further internal administration relating to the report.

Further amendments to the child abuse reporting law include:

1. A requirement that any reports filed in regard to suspected child abuse must include the name, title, and contact information of all staff persons with knowledge of the alleged abuse;
2. A prohibition on agency policies that punish mandated reporter staff for directly reporting child abuse;
3. A prohibition on agency policies that require any type of prior approval to making a report to the State Central Register;
4. Clarification of the term “school official” in the mandated reporter law to include “school teachers, school guidance counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, school nurses, school administrators, and any other school personnel required to hold a teaching or administrative license or certificate.”

This law in no way intends to require the reporting of alleged child abuse by more than one person in an institution.