Mandated Reporter Academy
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How to Report

Ohio (OH)

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Who is required to report?

Citation: Rev. Code § 2151.421

Mandatory reporters include the following:

  • Attorneys
  • Health-care professionals, including physicians, interns, residents, dentists, podiatrists, or nurses
  • Licensed psychologists, school psychologists, or marriage and family therapists
  • Speech pathologists or audiologists
  • Coroners
  • Administrators or employees of child daycare centers, certified child care agencies, or other public or private children services; residential camps; child day camps; or private, nonprofit therapeutic wilderness camps agencies
  • Teachers, school employees, or school authorities
  • Social workers, professional counselors, or employees of home health agencies
  • Peace officers, agents of county humane societies, dog wardens, deputy dog wardens, or animal control officers
  • Persons, other than clerics, rendering spiritual treatment through prayer in accordance with the tenets of a well-recognized religion
  • Professional employees of a county Department of Job and Family Services who works with children and families
  • Superintendents or regional administrators employed by the Department of Youth Services
  • Superintendents, board members, or employees of county boards of developmental disabilities; investigative agents contracted with by a county board of developmental disabilities; employees of the Department of Developmental Disabilities; employees of a facility or home that provides respite care; employees of a home health agency; or employees of an entity that provides homemaker services
  • Employees of qualified organizations or host families as defined in § 2151.90; foster caregivers
  • Persons performing the duties of an assessor or third party employed by a public children's services agency to assist in providing child- or family-related services

Court-appointed special advocates or guardians ad litem

When is a report required?

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 2151.421

A mandated reporter who knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that a child has suffered or faces a threat of suffering abuse or neglect shall immediately make a report to the county public children services agency (PCSA) or a peace officer in the county in which the child resides or the abuse or neglect is occurring or has occurred.

The report shall be made either by telephone or in person and shall be followed by a written report, if requested by the receiving agency or officer.

What information should the report include?

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 2151.421; Admin. Code § 5101:2-36-01

Written report (if requested by the receiving agency or officer) must include:

  • The names and addresses of the child and the child’s parents or the person or persons having custody of the child (if known)
  • The child’s age and the nature and extent of the child’s injuries, abuse, or neglect that is known or reasonably suspected or believed to have occurred, or of the threat of injury, abuse, or neglect that is known or reasonably suspected or believed to exist, including any evidence of previous injuries, abuse, or neglect
  • Any other information that might be helpful in establishing the cause of the injury, abuse, or neglect that is known or reasonably suspected or believed to have occurred, or of the threat of injury, abuse, or neglect that is known or reasonably suspected or believed to exist

Failure to report

Citation: Rev. Code § 2151.99

Any person who fails to report suspected child abuse or neglect, as required by § 2151.421, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.

Any person required to report by § 2151.421(A)(4) (requiring reports by clergy) who fails to report when knowing that a child has been abused or neglected and knowing that the person who committed the abuse or neglect was a cleric or another person other than a volunteer designated by a church, religious society, or faith to act as a leader, official, or delegate on behalf of the church, religious society, or faith is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree if the person who has failed to report and the person who committed the abuse or neglect belong to the same church, religious society, or faith.

The person who fails to report is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree if the child suffers or faces the threat of suffering the physical or mental wound, injury, disability, or condition that would be the basis of the required report when the child is under the direct care or supervision of another person over whom the offender has supervisory control.