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What is Child Abuse

Child Abuse Statistics - Updated October 29, 2008

• It’s not my place to get involved in another family’s business: The State of Texas laws require that anyone who knows of or suspects that a child has been abused or neglected or is at risk of abuse or neglect must make a report to the Department of Family and Protective Services or to local law enforcement officials. There are criminal penalties for failure to report known or suspected child abuse or neglect. Keeping children safe in our community is everyone’s responsibility.
   
  Fear that the child will be removed from the family: In Dallas County, at least 17,000 reports are made per year of alleged child abuse and neglect. Most of these are investigated and closed with no further action. Some families are offered services by the Department, where the child remains with his family while they work together to keep the child safe in the home. Others are referred to community agencies, including the CAP Center, for services. Only a small percentage of cases investigated results in removal of the child from the home. 
   
  I’m afraid of retribution: The identity of all persons who make a good faith report of known or suspected child abuse or neglect is confidential by law. Persons making a good faith report are immune from any civil or criminal liability. Any person who reveals the identity of a reporter is subject to criminal and civil penalties. The Department will also accept anonymous reports, although reporters are encouraged to leave their names in case further information is needed. 
   
  I’ll leave it to someone else to report it: Many people believe that an abusive situation must have already been reported to authorities and that they bear no responsibility for reporting. Yet, in most cases of serious child abuse or neglect, some of which result in a child fatality, there are people who know about the situation prior to the child being seriously injured or killed.  These could be neighbors, extended family or friends.  If someone had picked up the phone to make a report, a child’s life could have been saved and the child’s suffering could have been ended. 
   
  Reasons for reporting:
  You could change a child’s life for the better. You might even save a life.
  Children who experience abuse and neglect can’t speak out for themselves to stop the maltreatment. They need your help to end the abuse. 
   
  It’s the law! See below for a copy of Texas laws regarding definitions of child abuse and neglect and requirements for reporting. 
   
  THE LAW
  
  The Texas Law is very specific:
  §261.101. Persons Required to Report: Time to Report, the Texas Family Code, states:
  A person having cause to believe that a child’s physical or mental health or welfare has been adversely affected by abuse or neglect by any person shall immediately make a report as provided by this subchapter.
• If a professional has cause to believe that a child has been or may be abused or neglected, or that a child is a victim of an offense under Section 21.11, Penal Code, as defined by Section 261.001, the professional shall make a report not later than the 48th hour after the professional first suspects that the child has been or may be abused or neglected or is a victim of an offense under Section 21.11, Penal Code. A professional may not delegate to or rely on another person to make the report. In this subsection, “professional” means an individual who is licensed or certified by the state or who is an employee of a facility licensed, certified, or operated by the state and who, in the normal course of official duties or duties for which a license or certification is required, has direct contact with children. The term includes teachers, nurses, doctors, day-care employees, employees of a clinic that provides reproductive services, juvenile probation officers, and juvenile detention or correctional officers.
• The requirement to report under this section applies without exception to an individual whose personal communications may otherwise be privileged, including an attorney, a member of the clergy, a medical practitioner, a social worker, a mental health professional, and an employee of a clinic or health care facility that provides reproductive services.
• Unless waived in writing by the person making the report, the identity of an individual making a report under this chapter is confidential and may be disclosed only on the order of a court or to a law enforcement officer for the purposes of conducting a criminal investigation of the report.

• A person acting in good faith who reports or assists in the investigation of a report of alleged child abuse or neglect or who testifies or otherwise participates in a judicial proceeding arising from a report, petition, or investigation of alleged child abuse or neglect is immune from civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed.
• Immunity from civil and criminal liability extends to an authorized volunteer of the department or a law enforcement officer who participates at the request of the department in an investigation of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect or in an action arising from an investigation if the person was acting in good faith and in the scope of the person's responsibilities.
• A person who reports the person’s own abuse or neglect of a child or who acts in bad faith or with malicious purpose in reporting alleged child abuse or neglect is not immune from civil or criminal liability.

• A person commits an offense if the person has cause to believe that a child’s physical or mental health or welfare has been or may be adversely affected by abuse or neglect and knowingly fails to report as provided in this chapter.
• An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.

• "Abuse" includes the following acts or omission by a person:
  • mental or emotional injury to a child that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning
  • causing or permitting the child to be in a situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning
  • physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessor conservator that does not expose the child to a substantial risk of harm
  • failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child;
  • sexual conduct harmful to a child’s mental, emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct that constitutes the offense of indecency with a child under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section 22.021, Penal Code;
  • failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to the child;
  • compelling or encouraging the child to engage in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code;
  • causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting photograph, film or depiction of the child is obscene as defined by §43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic;
  • the current use by a person of a controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a manner or to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or emotional injury to a child;
  • causing, expressly permitting, or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code’ or
  • causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by Section 43.25, Penal Code. 
• "Department" means the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
• "Designated agency" means the agency designated by the court as responsible for the protection of children.
• "Neglect" includes:
  • the leaving of a child in a situation where the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of physical or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child, and the demonstration of an intent not to return by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the child;
  • the following acts or omissions by a person:
    • placing a child in or failing to remove a child from a situation that a reasonable person would realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child’s level of maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that results in bodily injury or a substantial risk of immediate harm to the child;
    • failing to seek, obtain, or follow through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in or presenting a substantial risk of death, disfigurement, or bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of the child;
    • the failure to provide a child with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by financial inability unless relief services had been offered and refused; or
    • placing a child in or failing to remove the child from a situation in which the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of sexual conduct harmful to the child; or
  • the failure by the person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to return to the child’s home without arranging for the necessary care for the child after the child has been absent from the home for any reason, including having been in residential placement or having run away.
• "Person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare" means a person who traditionally is responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare, including:
  • a parent, guardian, managing or possessory conservator, or foster parent of the child;
  • a member of the child’s family or household as defined by Chapter 71;
  • a person with whom the child’s parent cohabits;
  • school personnel or a volunteer at the child’s school; or
  • personnel or a volunteer at a public or private child-care facility that provides services for the child or at a public or private residential institution or facility where the child resides
• "Report" means a report that alleged or suspected abuse or neglect of a child has occurred or may occur.
• “Board” means the Board of Protective and Regulatory Services.
• “Born addicted to alcohol or a controlled substance” means a child:
  • who is born to a mother who during the pregnancy used a controlled substance, as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, other than a controlled substance legally obtained by prescription, or alcohol; and
  • who, after birth as a result of the mother’s use of the controlled substance or alcohol:
    • experiences observable withdrawal from the alcohol or controlled substance;
    • exhibits observable or harmful effects in the child’s physical appearance or functioning; or
    • exhibits the demonstrable presence of alcohol or a controlled substance in the child’s bodily fluids.

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