Children by their very nature have a diminished ability to:
Mandated reporters play a critical role in protecting our children because they often are the very first people to see signs of or be told about child maltreatment (abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation).
Mandated reporting laws require certain individuals to notify child protective services when they know or suspect a child is being maltreated. In Massachusetts, this law is known as the 51A Law. Our child protective service agency is the Department of Children and Families (DCF).
This training was designed to help mandated reporters in Massachusetts: