Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting 🔗
New Hampshire has a very simple system in place revolving around reports and mandated reporting. Unfortunately while the laws need to remain lax in order to protect children it often leads to people filing false reports against someone they don’t like. I call this “weaponized reporting” and it’s extremely common especially for families in unique situations such as single parent households where there is a natural predjudice against the parent for things likely outside of their control. In this quick article I want to outline ways in which you can protect yourself against weaponized reporting and outline the laws involved with reporting since they differ from the advice that DCYF gives to the public.
Mandated Reporting 🔗
New Hampshire law does not outline specific individuals that are responsible for reporting and instead requires all people to report child abuse or neglect if they have reason to believe a child has been abused or neglected.
First, let’s take a look at how DCYF outlines this:
If a child tells you that he or she has been hurt or you are concerned that a child may be the victim of any type of abuse or neglect, you must call the Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) Central Intake Unit
Now, how NH RSA 169-C:29 outlines this:
Any physician, surgeon, county medical examiner, psychiatrist, resident, intern, dentist, osteopath, optometrist, chiropractor, psychologist, therapist, registered nurse, hospital personnel (engaged in admission, examination, care and treatment of persons), Christian Science practitioner, teacher, school official, school nurse, school counselor, social worker, day care worker, any other child or foster care worker, law enforcement official, priest, minister, or rabbi or any other person having reason to suspect that a child has been abused or neglected shall report the same in accordance with this chapter.
As you can see, while NH law does provide some examples it then goes on to state that “any other person” is a mandated reporter and therefore every person in New Hampshire is a “Mandated Reporter” by default.
The other important part to pay attention to is “having reason to suspect” which is convinently left out of DCYF’s website in an effort to encourage more reports. While the intent behind this is to encourage concerned people to report things in order to protect children in bad situations it leads to lack of knowledge of the law and emboldens people that use the DCYF reporting system as a weapon against others.
Legal Remedies 🔗
Naturally, we would want to encourage proper reporting by making sure that there should not be any legal consequences for doing so and thus NH RSA 169-C:31 outlines certain legal immunity to those reporting child abuse and neglect. However, this also includes an exemption:
Anyone participating in good faith in the making of a report pursuant to this chapter or who provides information or assistance, including medical evaluations or consultations, in connection with a report, investigation, or legal intervention pursuant to a good faith report of child abuse or neglect, is immune from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed. Any such participant has the same immunity with respect to participation in any investigation by the department or judicial proceeding resulting from such report.
This law provides protection against weaponized reporting and it’s often forgotten or unknown by people targeted by weaponized reports but this is extremely important to know. So, what can you do? You can sue. You should absolutely file for damages against anyone that’s reporting you to DCYF out of their own interests as a weapon against you regardless of their job title. These issues are rampant and need to be stopped. The only way they will be stopped is if more people take action against the perpetrators.
If something is done in good faith, it is done sincerely and honestly - Cambridge Dictionary
By nature an abuse or neglect report is likely to lead to damages of some kind wether it’s mental stress affecting work performance or the public (especially work) finding out about the report and/or it’s allegations, because DCYF is known to make sure they are very loud when they reach out to you often showing up to your work unannounced, or even that you had to take time away from work. Maybe you had to consult attourneys in the process. It’s a nightmare for parents and thus there were likely monetary damages which you can claim. The more false reports the person has made against you the more monetary damages there are to claim.
If you’ve been the target of weaponized reporting you should seek out a family law attorney and a civil attorney to discuss potential lawsuits against the perpetrator.