All Maryland citizens should report suspected child abuse or neglect to Child Protective Services or to a local law enforcement agency. Ensuring the safety of Maryland’s children is an obligation shared by all citizens and organizations. If you are a mandated reporter, you are required by law to report both orally and in writing any suspected child abuse or neglect.

You are likely a mandated reporter if you work in a child-friendly or child-serving field. Maryland law defines this category of professionals broadly, and includes:

• Health Practitioners
• Police Officers
• Educators
• Human Service Workers

If Child Protective Services has reason to believe that a mandated reporter knowingly failed to make a report of suspected abuse or neglect of a child, then Child Protective Services must file a complaint with the appropriate licensing board or employer of the mandated reporter.

There are also criminal penalties for a mandated reporter who knowingly fails to report child abuse. It’s a misdemeanor - up to three years in jail and up to a $10,000 fine.

The information needed to make a report includes:

• The name and home address of the child and the parent or other individual responsible for the care of the child;
• The present location of the child;
• The age of the child (or approximate age);
• Names and ages of other children in the home;
• The nature and extent of injuries or sexual abuse or neglect of the child
• Any information relayed by the individual making the report of previous possible physical or sexual abuse or neglect.
• Information available to the individual reporting that might aid in establishing the cause of the injury or neglect;
• The identity of the individual or individuals responsible for abuse or neglect

The person at CPS receiving your report will request additional information in order to obtain the most comprehensive and complete information possible to inform decision making and subsequent agency actions.

Here are the steps to follow:

Collect the information necessary to make a report.

Call the 24-hour CPS hotline at 1-800-91-PREVENT (1-800-917-7383) or local law enforcement agency to report suspected child abuse or neglect. The CPS hotline is for residents of Maryland’s 23 counties and Baltimore City to report suspected child maltreatment. Marylanders are encouraged to also call the hotline for information about preventative services, resources, and support.

If you work at a hospital, public health agency, child-care institution, juvenile detention center, school or similar institution you must also immediately notify the head of the institution or their designee. NOTE: Internal reporting to the head of an institution does NOT replace a person’s mandatory duty to report the abuse to local departments and law enforcement. These laws supersede any policy of an agency.

Submit a written report (form DHR/SSA 180) to the local department of child protective services within 48 hours. Also send a copy of the report to the local State’s Attorney’s.

It's okay to be wrong. If you suspect a child is suffering from abuse or neglect but are afraid you are wrong, consider the following facts about reporting:

• You can report confidentially and anonymously
• Reporting gives children a voice
• Reporting allows children to get help, even if the allegations are not substantiated
• If a report is not made, an investigation will not be conducted, and the child will not receive services
• Children cannot protect themselves. Adults must protect children.

Child victims of abuse and neglect face a lifetime of negative consequences, unless they receive an intervention and treatment. Decades of research clearly indicate children who suffer the trauma of abuse and maltreatment are at an increased risk of suffering from a multitude of devastating short-term and life-long consequences. These children are more likely to develop behavioral problems, have trouble in school, engage in substance abuse, become repeat victims and become perpetrators of violent criminal behavior as adults:

• Victims of child maltreatment average 47% higher delinquency rates relative to children not indicated for abuse or neglect,[1] and 59% higher adult arrest rates.[2]
• Children who experience child abuse and neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime;[3]
• Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy;[4]
• As many as two‐thirds of the people in treatment for drug abuse report being abused or neglected as children;[5] and
• About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children.[6]

Child sexual abuse is prevalent, underreported, and occurs across all socioeconomic, racial and geographic lines:

• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused by the time they are 18 years[7] old,
• Only 38% of child victims disclose the fact that they have been sexually abused and [8] , of these, 40% tell a close friend, rather than an adult or authority,[9]
• 90% of victims know their abuser and 30% are abused by family members.[10]
• 1 in 5 of 11,800 runaways reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2015 were likely sex trafficking victims.[11]

• Individuals under the age of 18 who are objectified and caused to engage in commercial sex acts at the hands of another individual are considered victims of sex trafficking under Maryland law even when force, fraud or coercion are not used.[12]
• Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) is defined as, “sexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons...and includes prostitution of children, child pornography, child sex tourism, and other forms of transactional sex.[13]