OHIO

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WHO:        ANY person MAY report or cause reports to be made if s/he suspects a child has suffered or faces a threat of suffering from abuse or neglect.  [Rev. Code § 2151.421(B)]         

These are mandatory (MUST report); see privilege if underlined: • Attorneys • Health care professionals (physicians, hospital interns or residents, dentists, podiatrists, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, visiting nurses, licensed psychologists, speech pathologists, audiologists, persons engaged in social work or the practice of professional counseling, and employees of a home health agency) • Practitioners of a limited branch of medicine (massage therapy, cosmetic therapy, naprapathy if certified prior to 3/2/1992, and mechanotherapy if certified prior to 3/2/1992) • Licensed school psychologists • Independent or other marriage and family therapists • Coroners • Administrators or employees of child daycare centers, residential camps; child day camps; or private, nonprofit therapeutic wilderness camps, certified child care agencies, or other public or private children services agencies • School teachers, school employees, or school authorities • Peace officers (sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, police officer of a township or joint police district, marshal, deputy marshal, municipal police officer, or a state highway patrol trooper) • Agents of county humane societies • Persons, other than clerics, rendering spiritual treatment through prayer in accordance with the tenets of a well-recognized religion • Professional employees of a county Department of Job and Family Services who works with children and families • Superintendents or regional administrators employed by the Department of Youth Services • Superintendents, board members, or employees of county boards of developmental disabilities; investigative agents contracted with by a county board of developmental disabilities; employees of the Department of Developmental Disabilities; employees of a facility or home that provides respite care to a person with disabilities; employees of an entity that provides homemaker services • Employees of a qualified organization for host family services • Host families for children (temporary) • Foster caregivers • Persons performing the duties of an assessor for adoption or foster placement • Third parties employed by a public children’s services agency to assist in providing child- or family-related services • Court-appointed special advocates or guardians ad litem. • Clerics •  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.421(A)(1)(b); (P)(2),(4); (A)(2)-(4)]

·       NOTE: The mandate is limited to observations made in an official or professional capacity: it does not address observations made outside of work.

·       STANDARD:  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.421(A)(1)(a)-(b),(B)]  Child means under age 18, or under age 21 if the person is developmentally disabled or physically impaired.

(1)      For mandatory reporters acting in an official or professional capacity: knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that a child has suffered or faces a threat of suffering any physical or mental wound, injury, disability, or other condition of a nature that reasonably indicates abuse or neglect of the child.

(2)      For anyone: knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that a child has suffered or faces a threat of suffering any physical or mental wound, injury, disability, or other condition of a nature that reasonably indicates abuse or neglect of the child.

(3)      Reasonable cause to suspect means: based on facts that would cause a reasonable person in similar circumstances to suspect.

·       PRIVILEGE:  attorney-client, physician-patient, and cleric-penitent privileges apply, EXCEPT the attorney, physician, or cleric MUST report if all of the following apply: (a) the client, patient, or penitent IS the child at issue; (b) the confidential communication leads the attorney, physician, or cleric to know or reasonably suspect the child suffers or faces a threat of abuse or neglect, and (c) that abuse or neglect does NOT arise from the penitent’s attempt to have an abortion without notifying her parents, guardian, or custodian as permitted by law at § 2151.85.  [Rev. Code § 2151.421(A)(2)-(4)]

(1)      But the cleric need not report abuse or neglect of the penitent child if it would violate a sacred trust for confession under church/canon law.

(2)      Clerics MUST report known or reasonably suspected abuse or neglect learned otherwise, whether the perpetrator is a cleric or other person.

(3)      Cleric means anyone other than a volunteer, while (a) acting in an official or professional capacity (b) on behalf of a church, religious society, or faith (c) that has designated him/her to act as its leader, official, or delegate.

WHEN:      For mandated reports: IMMEDIATELY; by 3 p.m. the next working day for follow-on written reports. For other reports: unspecified. [Rev. Code § 2151.421(A)(1)(a);(B);(C); mandatory reporter’s guide]

WHERE & HOW:  [Rev. Code § 2151.421(A)-(C); Admin. Code § 5101:2-1-01(32),(54), (337)] 

(1)   All reports MUST be by phone or in person to either the county public children services agency (PCSA) or (for criminal acts of abuse or neglect) a peace officer. But peace officers making a report, must make it to the county PCSA.

(a)      EXCEPTION: if the abused child is an inmate in the custody of a state correctional institution, mandated reports must be made to the state highway patrol.  [Rev. Code § 5120.173]

(b)      SPECIAL CASE: if two or more health care professionals serving a child, determine or suspect s/he had been abused or neglected, they may designate one among their number to report for all of them.  [Rev. Code § 2151.421(C)]

(c)      OTHERWISE: non-mandated reports may be “caused” to be made (delegated), but there is no provision for “caused” mandated reports, apart from healthcare joint reports.  [Rev. Code § 2151.421(A),(B),(C)]

(2)   A report MUST be made in the county where the child resides OR where the abuse or neglect occurs / occurred. The 24/7 hotline below routes calls to the county. 

(3)   A written report MUST follow IF requested by the receiving agency or officer.

(4)   The hotline is run by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (DJFS); see

·       https://jfs.ohio.gov/ocf/reportchildabuseandneglect.stm

For an emergency or imminent danger:                      dial 911

Ohio hotline (24/7), directing calls to county PCSA:        855-642-4453 (855-OH-CHILD)]

Law enforcement directory:                                              https://www.usacops.com/oh/index.html

State Highway Patrol, directory by county:

             https://www.statepatrol.ohio.gov/contact.aspx#collapseOne&gsc.tab=0

Dept. of Developmental Disabilities (business hours) hotline to report Abuse, Neglect, or Theft happening to (any) person with disabilities            866-313-6733    

·       Additional contact options for reporting to DoDD are posted:

https://dodd.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/dodd/your-family/report-a-concern/

If a child discloses thoughts of harm to self or others      call 911 and/or County Crisis line.

·       http://www.suicide.org/hotlines/ohio-suicide-hotlines.html

For a mandatory reporters’ guide/slides for disabled children, see:                                          

https://ohioearlyintervention.org/storage/ocali-ims-sites/ocali-ims-oei/documents/MandatedReportingofSuspectedAbuseorNeglect.pdf

OTHER ASPECTS

·       REPORT DETAILS:  [Rev. Code § 2151.421(C); Admin. Code § 5101:2-36-01(A)]

o   A written report MUST contain: (a) the names and addresses of the child and his/her parents or persons having custody, if known; (b) the child's age; (c) the nature and extent of any injuries, abuse, or neglect, including any evidence of prior instances; (d) any other info, such as but not limited to, results and reports of any medical exams, tests, or procedures, that might help to establish the cause of any known, suspected, or reasonably believed injury, abuse, neglect, or threat of those.  Mandated reporters must attach any photos, medical exam results, etc., that are taken, and file supplemental reports if more documentation become available.

o   The report taker (PCSA) must also ask at least: (a) names and addresses of other household members; (b) the child's and any family member's race and ethnicity; (c) the type, extent, frequency, and duration of the abuse, neglect, or dependency, as applicable; (d) the alleged perpetrator's access to the child, if applicable; (e) the child's current condition; (f) the child's current location; and (g) the circumstances of the abuse, neglect, dependency, or (other) need for PCSA services.

o   PCSA also has logistical concerns: (h) language barriers or communication difficulties, if any; and (i) safety concerns (weapons, dangerous animals).  [p. 9, https://ohioearlyintervention.org/storage/ocali-ims-sites/ocali-ims-oei/documents/MandatedReportingofSuspectedAbuseorNeglect.pdf]

·       REPORTER PROTECTION: (1) The report need NOT name the reporter, BUT to receive info on its outcome a mandatory reporter must provider his/her name, address, and phone number to the person who receives it. [Rev. Code § 2151.421(L)(1)]  (2) Reported info and the reporter’s name are not released for any civil action or proceeding against the reporter. [Rev. Code § 2151.421(I)(1)]  (3) Any reporter in good faith is immune from civil and criminal liability, but this is not immunity to medical malpractice; and in a suit over good faith the prevailing party receives reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.421(H)(1)(a)-(b),(2)]

WHY:        (1) Mandatory reporters who fail to report (a) commit a misdemeanor of the fourth degree, but it is a first degree misdemeanor if the mandatory reporter is either (b) a cleric who did not report abuse or neglect by another cleric in the same organization or (c) an official or professional with supervisory control over the child or over someone who has direct care or supervision of the child.  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.99(A)(1),(2);(C)(2)]  (2) ANYONE who knowingly makes or causes someone else to make a false report of abuse or neglect commits a misdemeanor of the first degree.  [Rev. Code § 2921.14]  

WHAT:      In Ohio, child abuse includes criminal sexual activity, endangering a child (by breach of duty, abuse, torture, excessive discipline, repetitious discipline, sexual exploitation, illegal drugs, or driving under the influence), non-accidental (physical or mental) injury or death,  physical or mental harmful injury [from parental act], and abuse in out-of-home care. Child neglect includes abandonment, faults and habits (e.g., addictions) that prevent care, non-provision of necessities, non-provision of mental health needs, unlawful placement, injurious omissions, and neglect in out-of-home care.   [Rev. Code §§ 2151.031; 2151.03]

Initial Screening Criteria: (A) Whether the allegations concern abuse, neglect, dependency, family in need of services, or information or referral. (B) Whether abuse and neglect allegations concern high-priority scenarios: (i) felony child endangering; (ii) serious physical injury or serious immediate risk to health and safety; (iii) criminal sexual conduct; (iv) sexual abuse; (v) homicide; (vi) need for specialized assessment for abuse in out-of-home care; (vii) need for third-party investigation due to conflict of interest over a suspect under (a local) PCSA’s oversight; or (viii) suspicious child fatality.  [Admin. Code §§ 5101:2-1-01(276); 5101:2-36-01(L)]

Reportable: (a) a parent, guardian, or custodian, person with custody or control, or person in loco parentis (i.e., parental role), specifically for risk-creating breach of duty in endangerment; (b) a parent, guardian, or custodian, specifically for physical/mental injury or death, or neglect (by abandonment, faults/habits, non-provision of necessities, non-provision of mental health care, unlawful placement (or the attempt), or injurious omissions; (c) persons responsible for out-of home care, for abuse or neglect in out-of-home care; or (d) anyone for criminal sexual activity; endangerment (abuse, torture, excessive discipline, repetitious discipline, sexual exploitation, illegal drugs, or driving under the influence); or non-accidental physical/mental injury or death.  [See items below]

Child Abuse includes doing any of the following.  [Rev. Code § 2151.031]

(A)     (Anyone) Criminal sexual activity with a child, with either sexual conduct or sexual contact, but a court can find abuse without conviction for a sex crime.  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.031(A), 2907.01]

(1)     SEXUAL CONDUCT means: (a) vaginal intercourse between a male and female; (b) anal intercourse, fellatio, and cunnilingus between persons regardless of sex; or (c), apart from medical use, even a slight insertion of a body part, instrument, apparatus, or other item into another person’s vagina or anus.

(2)     SEXUAL CONTACT means touching another’s erogenous zone, e.g., the thigh, genitals, buttocks, pubic region, or breast, to arouse or gratify either person.

(3)     CONTEXT: THE AGE OF CONSENT is 16. (a) A child age 13, 14, or 15 may consent to someone in age range 13-17. (b) Mistake-in-age is not a defense, but penalties are reduced if an offender who is age 18 or more is less than 4 years older than a sex partner below age 16. (c) An underage cohabiting spouse has a consensual exception.  [Rev. Code §§ 2907.04; 2907.02(A); 2907.05(A)]

(4)     CONTEXT: INCEST means sexual conduct when the offender is the partner’s: (a) natural parent; (b) adoptive parent; (c) stepparent; (d) guardian; (e) custodian; or person in loco parentis [in the parent’s place].  [Rev. Code §§ 2907.03(A)(5)]

(5)     CONTEXT: OTHER forbidden sexual relationships are where the child’s partner is in a position of authority over him/her, such as a teacher, administrator, coach, or other person at his/her school, or is the child’s doctor, scout leader, instructor, disciplinarian, mental health professional, detention facility employee, cleric, or is a peace officer more than two years older.  [Rev. Code §§ 2907.03(A)(6)-(13)]

(B)     Endangering a Child by doing any of the following, but a court can find abuse without conviction for any crime. [Rev. Code §§ 2151.031(B); 2919.22(A),(C)]

(1)     BREACH OF DUTY: A parent, guardian, custodian, person with custody or control, or person in loco parentis (i.e., parental role) creates a substantial risk to the child’s health or safety, by violating a duty of care, protection, or support;

(a)      But it is NOT a violation of duty if a parent, guardian, custodian, or person having custody or control, treat’s a child’s physical or mental illness or defect by prayer alone, in accordance with tenets of a recognized religious body. [The exception does not include a person in loco parentis]

(2)     (Anyone) ABUSES the child;

(3)     (Anyone) TORTURES or cruelly abuses the child;

(4)     (Anyone) IN EXCESS: (a) administers corporal punishment or other physical discipline, or physically restrains the child (b) in a cruel or prolonged way (c) that is excessive under the circumstances, and (d) creates a substantial risk of serious physical harm to the child; 

(5)     (Anyone) REPETITION: (a) repeatedly administers (b) unwarranted disciplinary measures to the child, (c) despite a substantial risk that continuing such conduct will (d) seriously impair or retard the child's mental health or development;

(6)     (Anyone) EXPLOITATION: a person does any of the following to a child: (a) entices; (b) coerces; (c) permits; (d) encourages; (e) compels; (f) hires; (g) employs; (h) uses; or (i) allows him/her to act, model, or in any other way participate in; or be photographed for: the production, presentation, dissemination, or advertisement of any material or performance that the offender knows (or should) is obscene, sexually oriented, or nudity-oriented [porn];

(7)     (Anyone) ILLEGAL DRUGS: Knowingly allowing a child to be on the same real estate (or in the same housing unit) and within 100 feet of: (a) illegal drug manufacture; or (b) possession of chemicals for that; or (c) marijuana cultivation;

(8)     (Anyone) DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE: operating a vehicle, streetcar, or trackless trolley with a child under age 18 in it while the driver is under the influence of – or has a prohibited blood concentration of – alcohol and/or a drug of abuse and/or a controlled substance metabolite.  [Rev. Code § 4511.19(A),(B)]

(C)     Non-accidental physical or mental injury or death, or an injury or death that is at variance with the account given. [Rev. Code §§ 2151.031(C)]

(1)     BUT THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE CORPORAL DISCIPLINE or other physical discipline by a parent, guardian, custodian, person having custody or control, or person in loco parentis of a child even if it leaves evidence, unless it violates the endangerment provisions above. 

(2)     MENTAL INJURY means any behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorder in a child caused by an act or omission defined for endangerment.  [Rev. Code § 2151.011(B)(24) (The context in this statute is juvenile court, and injuries from the conduct of a parent or other person responsible for the child's care, but 2151.031(C) is not limited to that.)]

(D)     Physical or mental injury that harms or threatens the child’s health or welfare, due to acts of the child’s parents, guardian, or custodian (e.g., impact even if not directed at the child: substance abuse, domestic violence.  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.031(D); p. 15 https://ohioearlyintervention.org/storage/ocali-ims-sites/ocali-ims-oei/documents/MandatedReportingofSuspectedAbuseorNeglect.pdf]

(E)     Abuse in out-of-home care (by persons responsible for the child).  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.031(E); 2151.011(B)(29)]

Child Neglect includes any of:  [Rev. Code § 2151.03(A); p. 11-12 of        https://ohioearlyintervention.org/storage/ocali-ims-sites/ocali-ims-oei/documents/MandatedReportingofSuspectedAbuseorNeglect.pdf]

(A)     A child’s parents, guardian, or custodian do any of the following to him/her

(1)     ABANDON him/her; this is presumed when a child’s parents, guardian, or custodian fail to visit or maintain contact with him/her for over 90 days, even if they resume contact afterward;  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.011(C)]

(2)     HAVE FAULTS OR HABITS by which they fail to provide proper parental care (such as lack of emotional affection or nurturing);

(3)     NEGLECT OR REFUSE to provide proper, necessary subsistence, education, medical or surgical care, or other care for health, morals, or well-being;

(a)      But It is NOT neglect if a parent, guardian, or custodian fails to provide adequate medical or surgical care or treatment, solely in the practice of religious beliefs, yet: (1) this does NOT change anyone’s duty to report; and (2) the state or an agency or court may intervene for needed medical or surgical care.  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.03(B)]

(4)     NEGLECT OR REFUSE to provide special care made necessary by the child's mental condition;

(5)     UNLAWFULLY PLACE him/her (or try to) for placement or adoption; OR

(6)     HAVE INJURIOUS OMISSIONS, resulting in physical or mental injury that harms or threatens the child's health or welfare; OR

(a)      See definition of “mental injury” above.  [Rev. Code § 2151.011(B)(24)]

(B)     Neglect in out-of-home care (by persons responsible for the child).  [Rev. Code §§ 2151.03(B); 2151.011(B)(29)]