Key point 4-08. Every state has a child abuse reporting law that requires persons designated as mandatory reporters to report known or reasonably suspected incidents of child abuse. Ministers are mandatory reporters in many states. Some states exempt ministers from reporting child abuse if they learned of the abuse in the course of a conversation protected by the clergy-penitent privilege. Ministers may face criminal and civil liability for failing to report child abuse.
A Mississippi court ruled that the principal of a church school who reported a suspected case of child abuse to state authorities could not be sued by the parents of the child.
After investigating reports of abnormal behavior by a child at a church-operated school, the school principal determined that she had reasonable cause to believe that the child was a victim of abuse. The principal contacted the local Department of Human ...
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