Changes in Mandated Reporter Law Create New Criminal Charges

A case from Pennsylvania reminds us that law can change quickly, and we need to keep up with it. Police have charged a principal with violating the mandated reporter statute after he failed to report alleged abuse by his young adult son. According to the police press release, the principal is a mandated reporter “by virtue of his employment” as a school principal and willfully failed to disclose abuse "that was directly reported to him."  The release does not give the statute the principal allegedly violated, but its wording indicates that the police charged him under a recently-revised Pennsylvania statute.

Until 2022, 23 Pa. C.S. § 6311 listed as mandated reporters  people who came into contact with children and had reasonable cause to suspect “That A Child Under The Care, Supervision, Guidance Or Training Of That Person Or Of An Agency, Institution, Organization Or Other Entity With Which That Person Is Affiliated Is A Victim Of Child Abuse” (emphasis added). According to press reports, the named victim was not a student at the principal’s school. Under the old statute, then, the principal did not have an obligation to report.

In 2022, however, the legislature added an additional requirement of reporting when someone “makes a specific disclosure to the mandated reporter that an identifiable child is the victim of child abuse.” The press release cites a “direct” disclosure, indicating that the police are proceeding under the new requirement.

I do not know whether the principal was aware of the change in the law or not. Nevertheless, this incident reminds us that our youth-serving organizations need to stay aware of changes in laws governing us. It won’t be enough to plead that the law changed while we were doing the rest of our job.