Mandatory Reporting Laws Michigan

Based on the Child Protection Law Act 238 of 1975:

an individual who is required to report suspected child abuse or neglect is called a Mandatory Reporter or Mandated Reporter.

Mandatory Reporters or Mandated Reporters are certain people that are required by law to report when they know of a child abuse or neglect or suspected child abuse or child neglect (which encompasses Sexual Assault). They are required to report to Central Intake at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) about the suspected child abuse or child neglect. The person who had the contact with the child must be the one to report suspected child abuse or neglect and provide as much information as known at the time.

The name of a mandatory reporter/mandated reporter that put in the report will remain confidential under the Child Protection Law. You may never know who the individual was that submitted the report of the alleged abuse or child neglect. Oftentimes, once the details of abuse or neglect are released either via a Police written report or online reporting system, by law enforcement officers, the name of the individual who contacted the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services about child abuse or neglect and report suspected child abuse or neglect is revealed only under the consent of the said Mandated Reporter, the judicial process, or a select few people listed under the Child Protection Law.

Mandatory Reporting Laws Michigan

EXAMPLES OF MANDATORY REPORTERS or MANDATED REPORTERS

• Physicians
• Licensed emergency medical care providers
• Licensed master social workers
• School counselors
• Dentists
• Audiologists
• Licensed bachelor’s social workers
• Teachers
• Physician’s assistants
• Psychologists
• Registered social service technicians
• Law enforcement officers
• Registered dental hygienists
• Marriage and family therapists
• Social service technicians
• Members of the clergy
• Medical examiners are mandated reporters
• Licensed professional counselors are mandated reporters
• Persons employed in a professional capacity in any office of the Friend of the Court
• Regulated child care providers or daye care providers are mandated reporters
• Nurses are mandated reporters
• Social workers are mandated reporters
• School administrators
• Employees of an organization or entity that, as a result of federal funding statutes, regulations, or contracts, would be prohibited from reporting in the absence of a state mandate or court order (example: domestic violence provider); and
• A number of Human Service employees

HOW A MANDATORY REPORTER or MANDATED REPORTER WOULD GET INVOLVED

Example: Years and years after you, the adult, had sex with a minor and had no contact with her for years, she seeks therapy for guilty thoughts she is having due to the fact that her parents were getting divorced.

While discussing her feelings with her therapist, she stumbles upon similar feelings she had back when she was having sex with you, as a minor. She ends up relating her feelings from the sexual encounters you two had to the feelings of guilt she is having now.

As a result of that disclosure, the discussions with the therapist continue to unearth facts about you and the woman when she was a minor. The minor did not mean to talk about the fact that she had sexual relations with you when she was a minor, but it came out anyway.

Her therapist is a Mandatory Reporter/Mandated Reporter and must report to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services about the child abuse or neglect, which means the Police will eventually know as much as she knows about the abuse or neglect circumstances of her disclosure, and a written report will be documented and inputed into the online reporting system.

The next thing you know, years and years later, you are being investigated for a child abuse and neglect sex crime.