INDIANA

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WHO:        ANY person MUST report if they have reason to believe that a child is a victim of child abuse or neglect.  [Code. § 31-33-5-1]

Individuals may also be required to report in their capacity as staff members of a medical or other public or private institution, school, facility, or agency.  [Code. § 31-33-5-2]   Staff at a licensed hospital report under a separate provision.  [Code. § 31-33-5-2.5]. 

·       NOTE: The standards are not limited to observations made while at work.

·       STANDARD:  Child means under age 18.  [Code §§ 31-34-1-1 ff.; 31-33-5-1]

o   For all reporters: Reason to believe that a child is a victim of child abuse or neglect.

·       PRIVILEGE: Attorney-client and clergy-confession/counselee privileges.  [cf. Code § 34-46-3-1; pp. 4-13 and 4-14 of https://www.kidsvoicein.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Chapter-4-Reporting-Assesment.pdf]  Confidences NOT exempt from reports are: (1) husband-wife; (2) healthcare-patient; (3) client of licensed or clinical social workers, marriage/family therapists, or counselors for mental health and (clinical) addiction; & (4) school counselor/psychologist-student.  [Code § 31-32-11-1] 

WHEN:      IMMEDIATE oral or written report.  [Code § 31-33-5-4]

WHERE & HOW:  Reports are to the Department of Child Services (DCS) or local law enforcement agency; with an immediate oral or written report.  [Code § 31-33-5-4]  Reporting resources are online. [https://www.in.gov/fssa/carefinder/mandatory-reporting-of-child-abuse-and-neglect-resources/] 

·       For an emergency or child in imminent danger:            dial 911; report afterward.

·       For Indiana DCS Child Abuse & Neglect Hotline:           1-800-800-5556 (24/7)

o   If the call is put on hold, wait.  If all lines are busy, dial 1-833-800-5556.  

o   A reporter with no phone is granted phone access at any county DCS office to call the hotline.  County office contact info is linked at https://www.in.gov/dcs/2372.htm 

o   For faxing reports to the Hotline:                               317-234-7596

o   For e-mailing reports to the Hotline:              dcshotlinereports@dcs.in.gov            

o   Forms for written reports:                              https://www.in.gov/dcs/2328.htm

(a)   Download a form there, “Preliminary Report of Alleged Child Abuse or Neglect 00114/CW 0310”. It must be printed and then filled in by hand or typewriter.

·       For an oral or written report to local LAW ENFORCEMENT:  contact them directly.

o   A third-party directory is at https://www.usacops.com/in/ 

o   For third-party resources and references on reporting in Indiana, see:                                                 https://www.pcain.org/about-us/contact/

·       INSTITUTIONS: (1) Staff at a medical or other public or private institution, school, facility, or agency MUST report immediately to DCS or law enforcement, THEN notify the institution’s [chief] that the report was made.  [Code. § 31-33-5-2]  But: (2) Staff at a state-licensed hospital MUST report immediately to its [chief], who MUST then immediately report (or cause a report to be made) to DCS or law enforcement; the hospital staffer MUST also report to DCS or law enforcement unless to the best of his/her belief a report was already made (e.g., by the hospital).  [Code. §§ 31-33-5-2.5; 33-33-5-3]  (3) Institution policies must not restrict of delay staff or individual reports, but this does not apply to state-licensed hospitals.  [Code. §31-33-5-5]

·       REPORT DETAILS:  The statutes reviewed do not specify these.

o   For ORAL reports:  intake specialists ASK about circumstances that create a risk of harm to the child, including: (1) who was involved; (2) what occurred; (3) when and where; (4) the extent of any injuries; and (5) any other relevant info.  [see https://www.in.gov/dcs/2971.htm]  An intake resource with full question sets is posted at: https://www.in.gov/dcs/files/Intake-Guidance-Tool-3-1-19.docx

(a)   Anonymity:  Hotline staff ask for contact info, but allow anonymous reports.  

o   For internal reports DCS needs the following, if known:  (1) names and addresses of the child and his/her parents, guardian, custodian, or other responsible for him/her; (2) child's age and sex; (3) nature and extent of injuries, and any evidence of the child’s prior injuries, or abuse or neglect of the child or his/her siblings; (4) name of the person allegedly responsible for the injury / abuse / neglect; (5) source of the report; (6) reporter’s name and where s/he can be reached; (7) reporter’s actions (including: (7a) taking photos and x-rays; (7b) removing or keeping the child; or (7c) notifying the coroner); (8) written document required by § 31-34-2-3 if a child is taken into custody without a court order; (9) any other info the director requires by rule or the reporter believes might be helpful  [Code § 31-33-7-4]

·       REPORTER PROTECTION:  (1) The statutes reviewed do not require reporters to reveal their identities, but DCS would like to know them.  [see Code § 31-33-7-4]  (2) The identity of the reporter, agency representative, and anyone else potentially at risk will be protected when the report is made available to a parent, guardian, custodian, or other person about whom it is made, or their attorneys.  [Code §§ 31-33-18-2(8),(13)]  (3) Reporters are presumed to have acted in good faith, and are immune from civil & criminal liability, unless they had gross negligence or willful or wanton conduct; also, this section does not immunize medical malpractice by a qualified health care provider.  [Code §§ 31-33-6-1, -2, -3]

·       WHY:        (1a) Any reporter’s knowing failure to make a required report is a class B misdemeanor. (1b) Knowing failure to make a required report, by a staff member of a medical or other institution, school, facility, or agency, or by a staff member of a state-licensed hospital is a second class B misdemeanor in addition to that for any reporter.  [Code §§ 31-33-5-1, -2, -2.5; 31-33-22-1]  (2a) An intentionally false report to a law enforcement agency or DCS is a class A misdemeanor on the first offense, and level 6 felony on subsequent unrelated offenses. (2b) A false reporter is also liable to the accused; and punitive damages and attorney’s fees may also be awarded. [Code § 31-33-22-3(a),(b)]

WHAT:      Indiana requires reporting for: abandonment; neglect of provision or care; mental abuse (as a side effect); physical abuse; drug abuse (as a contributor); sexual abuse / exploitation; and human / sexual trafficking. [Code §§ 31-34-1-1 ff.; 31-9-2-0.5, -133.1]

·       Context: several of these statutes define when the child is in need of services (“CHINS” in DCS terminology); meaning the abuse or neglect is: (a) done to a child (b) who [as a result] needs care, treatment, or rehab that (c) s/he is not receiving, and (d) that is unlikely to be provided or accepted without the coercive intervention of the court. However the reporter’s concern is the LIKELIHOOD of abuse or neglect, NOT how it is treated.

Initial Screening Criteria: Allegedly, (a) the victim is still a child, who was (b) abused or neglected in Indiana OR is currently at risk of harm there; (c) the perpetrator is a parent, guardian, or custodian under state law AND/OR did sexual abuse; OR (d) if not sexual, then: (i) suspicious death; (ii) physical abuse; (iii) neglect OR (iv) emotional injury [e.g., so child is disruptive].  [Code § 31-33-8-1; https://in.gov/dcs/files/hotlineStructuredDecisionTool.pdf; https://www.indianalegalservices.org/node/56/general-information-about-chins]

·        NEGLECT here is any of: (i) general, (ii) failure to protect, (iii) abandonment, (iv) risk of harm, (v) medical, or (vi) educational. General neglect may include: failure to provide or supervise; unsafe conditions; substance abuse; exposure to or coercion for crime; exposure to domestic violence; risk of sexual abuse; or any trafficking or risk of it.

Reportable: (a) a parent, guardian, or custodian who is suspected of: abandonment; neglect of provision / care; mental abuse; physical abuse; drug abuse; or trafficking; or (b) anyone who is suspected of sexual abuse.  [Code §§ 31-9-2-0.5; 31-34-1-1 ff.]  NOTE: an abuser outside this classification may be committing a crime that is reportable to police.

·        Persons responsible for the child: PARENT means a biological or adoptive parent. GUARDIAN means someone appointed by a court to have care and custody of a child and/or his/her estate. CUSTODIAN means: (a) a licensee or applicant for a foster home, residential child care facility, child care center, or child care home; (b) an owner, director, manager, supervisor, employee, or volunteer, responsible for care, supervision or welfare of children, at a child care home/center/facility as in (a) or otherwise, or a child care ministry, or that serves migrant children; (c) a school; (d) a child caregiver; (e) a household member of the child’s noncustodial parent; or (f) an individual who has or intends direct contact, on a regular, continuing basis, with a child for whom s/he provides care and supervision. A CAREGIVER is not a family member, and is paid $2,000 or more per year for unattended care of the child.  [DCS Child Welfare Policy Manual, Chap. 3 Section 8 (7/1/2019)]

Abandonment (of Infants) means either of:  [Code § 31-9-2-0.5]

(A)     A parent, guardian, or custodian knowingly or intentionally leaves a child under age 1: (a) in an environment that endangers his/her life or health; OR (b) in a hospital or medical facility with no reasonable plan to assume care, custody, and control; OR

(B)     A parent knowingly, intentionally leaves a child who is or appears to be 30 days old or less with an emergency medical provider, expressing no intent to return.

Neglect means any of:  [Code §§ 31-34-1-1; 31-34-1-9; 31-34-1-10; 31-34-1-11]

(A)     Non-provision: A parent, guardian, or custodian was unable, refused, or neglected to give food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, or supervision, AND this seriously impairs or endangers the child's physical or mental condition;

(1)     This expressly includes a child who – due to neglect – lacks ordinary NUTRITION or ordinary MEDICAL or surgical intervention for a life-threatening condition;

(B)     Prenatal chemicals: A child BORN with: (a) fetal alcohol syndrome, (b) neonatal abstinence syndrome; or (c) controlled substance or legend drug in his/her body; or

(C)     Prenatal symptoms: A child has: (a) an injury; (b) abnormal physical or psychological development; (d) neonatal intoxication or withdrawal symptoms; or (e) substantial risk of life-threatening condition arising or aggravated by the mother’s use or alcohol, controlled substance, or legend drug during pregnancy.

(D)     But neglect is NOT any of:   [Code §§ 31-34-1-12, -13, -14, -15(2)]

(1)     VALID medical treatment that leaves the controlled substance or legend drug.

(2)     A parent’s withholding of medical care due to legitimate, genuine RELIGIOUS beliefs; but a court may intervene if a child’s life and health is in serious danger.

(3)     A parent’s lawful practice or teaching of RELIGIOUS beliefs.

Child in Need of Services means the child is not receiving and unlikely to receive needed care, treatment, or rehab, unless a court intervenes, for (A) – (C):  [Code § 31-34-1-2]

(A)     Injury: a parent / guardian / custodian’s act or omission injures the child, seriously endangering his/her physical or mental health.

(1)     PHYSICAL ABUSE is non-accidental injury caused or allowed, even without intent.  [see: https://www.in.gov/fssa/carefinder/files/ChildAbuseNeglect.pdf]

(2)     EMOTIONAL ABUSE is: (a) a behavior pattern by parents or caregivers that can seriously interfere with a child’s cognitive, emotional, psychological or social development, including: Ignoring, Rejecting, Isolating, Exploiting or Corrupting, Verbally Assaulting, or Terrorizing; (b) a parent or caregiver’s frequent hotline reports when the same or similar past allegations were unsubstantiated; and/or (c) injury to a child’s mental or psychological capacity or emotional stability, evidenced by a substantial impairment in ability to function within a normal range of performance and behavior with due regard to age, development, culture, and environment as testified by a Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP).  [DCS Child Welfare Policy Manual, Chap. 3 Section 8 (7/1/2019)]

(B)     The child is a victim of an act, attempt, or conspiracy for any of: (a) assisted suicide; (b) battery (knowingly or intentionally touching someone in a rude, insolent or angry manner by contact or with any bodily fluid or waste, including any bodily injury); (c) domestic battery (on a family or household member); (d) aggravated battery (battery with substantial risk of death or causing serious permanent disfigurement, protracted loss or impairment of a bodily function or organ, or loss of a fetus); (e) strangulation (like battery; pressing another’s throat or neck; obstructing their mouth or nose; or applying pressure to their torso (e.g., in pregnancy)); (f) neglect (endangerment, abandonment, cruel confinement, depriving necessary support, educational neglect, neglect in an illicit drug making or drug dealing environment, or child selling; It is NOT neglect to leave newborns lawfully in a safety device or with an emergency medical services provider or to treat them by prayer in lieu of medical care); or (g) attempt or conspiracy to commit any of: (i) murder; (ii) causing suicide; (iii) voluntary manslaughter; (iv) involuntary manslaughter (unintended death (born or unborn) during battery or if operating a vehicle when intoxicated); or (v) reckless homicide.

(C)     Child living in the same household as an adult who awaits trial for or is convicted for committing any offense in (B) against another child in the same household, or where a court judged that the child needed services.

(D)    Evidence of illegally manufacturing a drug or controlled substance on the property where a child resides, creates a presumption of physical or mental endangerment.

(E)     CAVEAT: a parent’s use of reasonable corporal punishment when disciplining the child is NOT statutory abuse or neglect.  [Code §§ 31-34-1-15(1)]

Sexual Abuse &/or Sexual Exploitation &/or Trafficking (for forced labor or sex) of a child includes any of:  [Code §§ 31-34-1-3; 31-34-1-4; 31-34-1-3.5; 31-9-2-133.1]

(A)     Sexual acts: (a) rape; (b) forced oral or anal sex; (c) molestation; (d) use in child porn; (e) use of a child under age 16 for vicarious sexual gratification; (f) solicitation (by adult age > 18 to child age <14; or by adult age > 21 to child age 14 or 15); (g) seduction (by adult age > 18 to child age 16 or 17); (h) sexual battery (touched under force or threat, or when unaware); (i) sexual conduct with a minor (by adult age > 18 with child age > 14); (j) public indecency (by adult age > 18 to child age < 16); (k) prostitution; (l) propositioning; (m) promoting prostitution; or (n) incest; where

(1)     FOR SUCH A CRIME, the child is (a) a victim under Indiana or other law; OR (b) living with a child who was a victim, if intervention is ongoing; OR (c) living with an adult who was convicted or faces pending charges for that or for promotion of trafficking (Code § 35-42-3.5-1);

(2)     PROMOTION OF TRAFFICKING means: (i) engaging someone in forced labor or involuntary servitude; or (ii) forcing someone into marriage, prostitution, or participation in sexual conduct (Code § 35-42-3.5-1); and

(3)     INCEST means that a person age 18 or more engages in sexual intercourse or other sexual conduct, knowing that the other person is related to him/her biologically as a: parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew. An exception is a relation based on their marriage, if it was valid in the jurisdiction where it was entered into. [Code § 35-46-1-3].

(B)     A parent, guardian, or custodian allows participation in child porn production.

(C)     The child is the victim of human or sexual trafficking (regardless of consent), i.e., the child was recruited, harbored, transported, or engaged in: (a) forced labor; (b) involuntary servitude; (c) prostitution; (d) juvenile prostitution, (d) child exploitation; (f) marriage not authorized by a court; or (g) trafficking for the purpose of prostitution, juvenile prostitution, or participation in sexual conduct.

(D)     CAVEAT: The age of consent is 16.  [Code § 35-42-4-9, (a),(d),(e)]

(1)     BUT A CHILD AGE 14 OR 15 MAY CONSENT to an older sex partner who is under age 18. The older person has a defense if they reasonably believed the child was at least age 16, or if the child is or ever had been married, however there is no defense if the act involves a felony, force, weapon, or drug).

(2)     ANOTHER DEFENSE IS: the child’s partner is all of the following: (a) acted within an ongoing personal relationship, not with a family member; (b) was under age 21 and not more than four years older; (c) did not use or threaten deadly force, was not armed with a deadly weapon, and caused no serious bodily injury; (d) furnished no drug or controlled substance without the child’s knowledge, and knew of none; (e) was not in a position of authority or substantial influence over the child; and (f) had not committed another sex offense against anyone else.