Mandatory Reporting - Pennsylvania
OLD REQUIREMENTS - Prior to passage of House Bill No. 435, a mandated reporter (including but not limited to any paid or unpaid individual who, on the basis of the individual's role as an integral part of a regularly scheduled program, activity or service, accepts responsibility for a child) was required to “make a report of suspected child abuse or cause a report to be made.” This requirement could be satisfied, for example, by a camp volunteer making the report directly to CHILDLINE: 800-932-0313 or advising the camp director who in turn would make the report.
NEW REQUIREMENTS - Effective December 31, 2014, the former process of “causing a report to be made” will no longer be permissible. Rather, the mandated reporter (i.e., the volunteer in the above example) will be required to make the report directly to CHILDLINE: 800-932-0313. This does not mean that the volunteer cannot or should not advise the camp director of the incident/reasonable cause to believe child abuse has occurred (assuming the camp director is not the alleged perpetrator) prior to making the mandated report, as the camp director may be able to facilitate the report being made as promptly as possible.