Suspected Child Abuse Must be Reported By Teachers, AZ Law States

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard recently clarified Arizona’s laws on teachers and other educators reporting child abuse.  Teachers, teachers’ aides, or any other school volunteers or employees have a duty to report suspected cases of child abuse directly to law enforcement officials or Arizona’s Child Protective Services.

Goddard reiterated the state laws after several incidents were reported where teachers or others reported the suspected child abuse to their superiors, and the information was never passed on to any law enforcement or CPS official.  The statement was issued as a legal opinion and because the laws were asked to be clarified by a state legislator.

Arizona law has teachers on its list of people who must report suspected cases of abuse or neglect.  The reiteration of the laws states that if teachers report the suspected cases to any supervisor or principal, they are also responsible for seeing that the information gets to proper authorities in time as well.