OHIO
MANDATORY REPORTING LAWS
MANDATORY REPORTING LAWS
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Professionals required to report
Citation: Rev. Code § 2151.421
Mandatory reporters include the following:
• Attorneys
• Physicians, interns, residents, dentists, podiatrists, nurses, or other health-care professionals
• Licensed psychologists, school psychologists, or marriage and family therapists
• Speech pathologists or audiologists
• Coroners
• Administrators or employees of child daycare centers, certified child care agencies, or other public or private children services;
residential camps; child day camps; or private, nonprofit therapeutic wilderness camps agencies
• Teachers, school employees, or school authorities
• Persons engaged in social work or the practice of professional counseling
• Peace officers or 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; employees of a home health agency; or employees of an entity that
provides homemaker services
• Persons performing the duties of an assessor or third party 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
Other persons required to report
Citation: Rev. Code § 2151.421
Any other person who suspects that a child has suffered or faces a threat of suffering from abuse or neglect may report.
Institutional responsibility to report
This issue is not addressed in the statutes reviewed.
WHAT ARE THEY REQUIRED TO REPORT
Citation: Rev. Code § 2151.421
A report is required when a mandated person is acting in an official or professional capacity and knows or suspects that a child under age 18 or a person under age 21 with a developmental disability or physical impairment has suffered or faces a threat of suffering any physical or mental wound, injury, disability, or condition of a nature that reasonably indicates abuse or neglect of the child.
PENALTIES FOR FAILING TO REPORT
Citation: Rev. Code § 2151.99
Any person who fails to report suspected child abuse or neglect, as required by § 2151.421, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
Any person required to report by § 2151.421(A)(4) (requiring reports by clergy) who fails to report when knowing that a child has been abused or neglected and knowing that the person who committed the abuse or neglect was a cleric or another person other than a volunteer designated by a church, religious society, or faith to act as a leader, official, or delegate on behalf of the church, religious society, or faith is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree if the person who has failed to report and the person who committed the abuse or neglect belong to the same church, religious society, or faith.
The person who fails to report is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree if the child suffers or faces the threat of suffering the
physical or mental wound, injury, disability, or condition that would be the basis of the required report when the child is under the direct care or supervision of another person over whom the offender has supervisory control.
PENALTIES FOR FALSE REPORTING
Citation: Rev. Code § 2921.14
No person shall knowingly make or cause another person to make a false report alleging that any person has committed an act or omission that resulted in a child being abused or neglected.
Whoever violates this section is guilty of making or causing a false report of child abuse or child neglect, a misdemeanor of the first degree.
PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATIONS
Citation: Rev. Code § 2151.421
An attorney, physician, or cleric is not required to make a report concerning any communication the attorney, physician, or cleric
receives from a client, patient, or penitent in a professional relationship, if, in accordance with § 2317.02, the attorney, physician, or cleric could not testify with respect to that communication in a civil or criminal proceeding.
If all the following apply, the client, patient, or penitent in the relationship is deemed to have waived any testimonial privilege with respect to any communication the attorney, physician, or cleric receives, and the attorney, physician, or cleric shall make a report with respect to that communication:
• The client, patient, or penitent, at the time of the communication, is either a child under age 18 or a mentally retarded,
developmentally disabled, or physically impaired person under age 21.
• The attorney, physician, or cleric knows, or has reasonable cause to suspect based on facts that would cause a reasonable person in similar position to suspect, as a result of the communication or any observations made during that communication, that the client, patient, or penitent has suffered or faces a threat of suffering any physical or mental wound, injury, disability, or condition of a nature that reasonably indicates abuse or neglect of the person.
• The abuse or neglect does not arise out of the person’s attempt to have an abortion without the notification of her parents, guardian, or custodian in accordance with § 2151.85.
REPORTER’S IDENTITY
Citation: Rev. Code § 2151.421
The reporter is not required to provide his or her name in the report, but if he or she wants to receive information on the outcome of the investigation, he or she must provide his or her name, address, and telephone number to the person who receives the report.
Disclosure of Reporter Identity
Citation: Rev. Code § 2151.421
The information provided in a report made pursuant to this section and the name of the person who made the report shall not be released for use and shall not be used as evidence in any civil action or proceeding brought against the person who made the report.