How do I report suspected child abuse and/or neglect?
Question
How do I report suspected child abuse and/or neglect?
Answer
If you suspect that abuse or neglect is taking place in a child care setting, you can do the following: • Call the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 800-422-4453, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The hotline gives information about where to file and how to make a report. • Contact your State child protective services (CPS) agency. Contact information for all State CPS agencies is available on Child Welfare Information Gateway’s Web site at http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/reslist/rl_dsp.cfm?rs_id=5&rate_chno=11-11172. • Contact your State child care licensing agency if you think your child care provider is not following State regulations. The National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC), a service of the Child Care Bureau, hosts a Web site that provides the contact information for all State licensing agencies at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/statedata/dirs/display.cfm?title=licensing. • Call Child Welfare Information Gateway at 800-394-3366. Or visit the Web at http://www.childwelfare.gov for information in English, and at http://www.childwelfare.gov/espanol/ for information in Spanish. This site has resources about prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect and other child welfare issues.