MASSACHUSETTS
MANDATORY REPORTING LAWS
MANDATORY REPORTING LAWS
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Professionals required to report
Citation: Gen. Laws Ch. 119, § 21
Mandatory reporters include the following:
• Physicians, medical interns, hospital personnel, medical examiners, psychologists, emergency medical technicians, dentists,
nurses, chiropractors, podiatrists, optometrists, osteopaths, allied mental health and human services professionals, drug and
alcoholism counselors, psychiatrists, or clinical social workers
• Public or private schoolteachers, educational administrators, guidance or family counselors, or child care workers
• Persons paid to care for or work with children in any public or private facility, home, or program that provides child care or
residential services to children
• Persons who provide the services of child care resource and referral agencies, voucher management agencies, family child
care systems, or child care food programs
• Licensors of the Department of Early Education and Care or school attendance officers
• Probation officers, clerk-magistrates of a district court, parole officers, social workers, foster parents, firefighters, police
officers, or animal control officers
• Priests, rabbis, clergy members, ordained or licensed ministers, leaders of any church or religious body, or accredited
Christian Science practitioners
• Persons performing official duties on behalf of a church or religious body that are recognized as the duties of a priest, rabbi,
clergy, ordained or licensed minister, leader of any church or religious body, or accredited Christian Science practitioner
• Persons employed by a church or religious body to supervise, educate, coach, train, or counsel a child on a regular basis
• Persons in charge of a medical or other public or private institution, school, or facility or that person’s designated agent
• The child advocate.
Other persons required to report
Citation: Gen. Laws Ch. 119, § 51A
Any other person who has reasonable cause to believe that a child is suffering from or has died as a result of abuse or neglect may file a report.
Institutional responsibility to report
Citation: Gen. Laws Ch. 119, § 51A(a), (h)
If a mandated reporter is a member of the staff of a medical or other public or private institution, school, or facility, the mandated reporter may instead notify the person or designated agent in charge of such institution, school, or facility, who shall become responsible for notifying the department in the manner required by this section.
No employer shall discharge, discriminate, or retaliate against a mandated reporter who, in good faith, files a report, testifies, or is about to testify in any proceeding involving child abuse or neglect. Any employer who discharges, discriminates, or retaliates against that mandated reporter shall be liable to the mandated reporter for treble damages, costs, and attorney’s fees.
WHAT ARE THEY REQUIRED TO REPORT
Citation: Gen. Laws Ch. 119, § 51A
A mandated reporter must report when, in his or her professional capacity, he or she has reasonable cause to believe that a child is suffering physical or emotional injury resulting from any of the following:
• Abuse inflicted upon the child that causes harm or substantial risk of harm to the child’s health or welfare, including sexual
abuse
• Neglect, including malnutrition
• Physical dependence upon an addictive drug at birth
• Being a sexually exploited child
• Being a human trafficking victim, as defined by chapter 233, § 20M
PENALTIES FOR FAILING TO REPORT
Gen. Laws Ch. 119, § 51A
Any mandatory reporter who fails to report shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.
Any mandated reporter who has knowledge of child abuse or neglect that resulted in serious bodily injury to or death of a child and willfully fails to report the abuse or neglect shall be punished by a fine of up to $5,000 or imprisonment for no more than 2 ½ years or by both, and, upon a guilty finding or a continuance without a finding, the court shall notify any appropriate professional licensing authority of the mandated reporter’s violation of this paragraph.
PENALTIES FOR FALSE REPORTING
Gen. Laws Ch. 119, § 51A
Whoever knowingly and willfully files a frivolous report of child abuse or neglect under this section shall be punished as follows:
-
- A fine of no more than $2,000 for the first offense
- Imprisonment for no more than 6 months and a fine of no more than $2,000 for the second offense
- Imprisonment for no more than 2 ½ years and a fine of no more than $2,000 for the third and subsequent offenses
PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATIONS
Citation: Gen. Laws Ch. 119, § 51A
Any privilege relating to confidential communications established by §§ 135 to 135B, inclusive, of chapter 112 (regarding social worker-client privilege) or by §§ 20A (clergy-penitent privilege) and 20B (psychotherapist-patient privilege) of chapter 233 shall not prohibit the filing of a report under this section or a care and protection petition under § 24, except that a priest, rabbi, clergy, member, ordained or licensed minister, leader of a church or religious body, or accredited Christian Science practitioner need not report information solely gained in a confession or similarly confidential communication in other religious faiths.
Nothing in the general laws shall modify or limit the duty of a priest, rabbi, clergy member, ordained or licensed minister, leader of a church or religious body, or accredited Christian Science practitioner to report suspected child abuse or neglect under this section when the priest, rabbi, clergy member, ordained or licensed minister, leader of a church or religious body, or accredited Christian Science practitioner is acting in some other capacity that would otherwise make him or her a mandated reporter.
REPORTER’S IDENTITY
Gen. Laws Ch. 119, § 51A
A report shall include the name of the person making the report. Disclosure of reporter identity is not addressed in the statutes reviewed.