Mandatory Reporting Requirements: Children
Vermont

A mandated reporter, which is any:

• health care provider, including any:
• Physician, surgeon, osteopath, chiropractor or physician’s assistant licensed, certified or registered under Vermont state law;
• Resident physician;
• Intern;
• Hospital administrator in any hospital in Vermont;
• Registered nurse or licensed practical nurse;
• Medical examiner;
• Emergency medical personnel;
• Dentist;
• Psychologist; and
• Pharmacist;
• Any individual who is employed by a school district or an approved or recognized independent school, or who is contracted and paid by a school district or an approved or recognized independent school to provide student services, including any:
• School superintendent;
• Headmaster of an approved or recognized independent school;
• School teacher;
• Student teacher;
• School librarian;
• School principal; and
• School guidance counselor;
• Child care worker;
• Mental health professional;
• Social worker;
• Probation officer;
• Police officer;
• Any employee, contractor or grantee of the Agency of Human Services who has contact with clients;
• Any employee of the state Office of the Child, Youth, and Family Advocate;
• Camp owner, camp administrator or camp counselor (“camp” includes any residential or nonresidential recreational program); and
• Member of the clergy (i.e., a priest, rabbi, clergy member, ordained or licensed minister, leader of any church or religious body, accredited Christian Science practitioner, or person performing official duties on behalf of a church or religious body that are recognized as the duties of a priest, rabbi, clergy, nun, brother, ordained or licensed minister, leader of any church or religious body, or accredited Christian Science practitioner), subject to certain carveouts specified under When is a report required?
• Any other concerned person who has reasonable cause to believe that any child has been abused or neglected may report or cause a report to be made.

When is a report required?

• Any mandated reporter who reasonably suspects abuse or neglect of a child shall report within 24 hours of the time information regarding the suspected abuse or neglect was first received or observed.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, a member of the clergy shall not be required to report if the report would be based upon information received in a communication which is (1) made to a member of the clergy acting in his or her capacity as spiritual advisor; (2) intended by the parties to be confidential at the time the communication is made; (3) intended by the communicant to be an act of contrition or a matter of conscience; and (4) required to be confidential by religious law, doctrine, or tenet. When a member of the clergy receives information about abuse or neglect of a child in a manner other than as described in the previous sentence, he or she is required to report on the basis of that information even though he or she may have also received a report of abuse or neglect about the same person or incident in the manner described in the previous sentence.

Where does it go?

• Vermont Department for Children and Families by telephone through the Child Protection Line (1-800-649-5285) or to local police. For more information, see https://dcf.vermont.gov/fsd/report.

• “Abused or neglected child” means a child whose physical health, psychological growth and development or welfare is harmed or is at substantial risk of harm by the acts or omissions of his or her parent or other person responsible for the child’s welfare. Also means a child who is sexually abused or at substantial risk of sexual abuse by any person and a child who has died as a result of abuse or neglect.
• “Assessment” means a response to a report of child abuse or neglect that focuses on the identification of the strengths and support needs of the child and the family and any services they may require to improve or restore their well-being and to reduce the risk of future harm. The child and family assessment does not result in a formal determination as to whether the reported abuse or neglect has occurred.
• “Child” means an individual under the age of majority.
• “Emotional maltreatment” means a pattern of malicious behavior which results in impaired psychological growth and development.
• “Harm” can occur by:
• Physical injury or emotional maltreatment;
• Failure to supply the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or health care. “Adequate health care” includes any medical or nonmedical remedial health care permitted or authorized under state law. Notwithstanding that a child might be found to be without proper parental care, a parent or other person responsible for a child’s care legitimately practicing his or her religious beliefs who thereby does not provide specified medical treatment for a child shall not be considered neglectful for that reason alone; or
• Abandonment of the child.
• “Investigation” means a response to a report of child abuse or neglect that begins with the systematic gathering of information to determine whether the abuse or neglect has occurred and, if so, the appropriate response. An investigation shall result in a formal determination as to whether the reported abuse or neglect has occurred.
• “Person responsible for a child’s welfare” includes the child’s parent, guardian, foster parent, any other adult residing in the child’s home who serves in a parental role, an employee of a public or private residential home, institution, or agency, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare while in a residential, educational, or child care setting, including any staff person.
• “Physical injury” means death or permanent or temporary disfigurement or impairment of any bodily organ or function by other than accidental means.
• “Risk of harm” means a significant danger that a child will suffer serious harm by other than accidental means, which harm would be likely to cause physical injury or sexual abuse, including as the result of:
• a single, egregious act that has caused the child to be at significant risk of serious physical injury;
• the production or preproduction of methamphetamines when a child is actually present;
• failing to provide supervision or care appropriate for the child’s age or development and, as a result, the child is at significant risk of serious physical injury;
• failing to provide supervision or care appropriate for the child’s age or development due to use of illegal substances, or misuse of prescription drugs or alcohol;
• failing to supervise appropriately a child in a situation in which drugs, alcohol, or drug paraphernalia are accessible to the child; and
• a registered sex offender or person substantiated for sexually abusing a child residing with or spending unsupervised time with a child.
• “Serious physical injury” means, by other than accidental means:
• physical injury that creates any of the following:
• a substantial risk of death;
• a substantial loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ;
• a substantial impairment of health; or
• substantial disfigurement; or
• strangulation by intentionally impeding normal breathing or circulation of the blood by applying pressure on the throat or neck or by blocking the nose or mouth of another person.
• “Sexual abuse” means any act or acts by any person involving sexual molestation or exploitation of a child, including: incest; prostitution; rape; sodomy; lewd and lascivious conduct involving a child; aiding, abetting, counseling, hiring, or procuring of a child to perform or participate in any photograph, motion picture, exhibition, show, representation, or other presentation which, in whole or in part, depicts sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse involving a child; viewing, possessing, or transmitting child pornography, with the exclusion of the exchange of images between mutually consenting minors, including the minor whose image is exchanged; human trafficking; sexual assault; voyeurism; luring a child; and obscenity.
• “Substantiated report” means that the Commissioner or the Commissioner’s designee has determined after investigation that a report is based upon accurate and reliable information where there is a preponderance of the evidence necessary to support the allegation that the child has been abused or neglected.

• Reports to be made within 24 hours of the time information regarding the suspected abuse or neglect was first received or observed. Report may be made orally or in writing. If the report is made orally, a follow-up written report will be requested, unless the reporter is anonymous.

• Name, address or other contact information of the reporter;
• The name and address of the child;
• The name and address of the parents or other persons responsible for the child’s care, if known;
• The age of the child;
• The nature and extent of the child’s injuries together with any evidence of previous abuse and neglect of the child or the child’s siblings; and
• Any other information that might be helpful in establishing the cause of the injuries or reasons for the neglect as well as in protecting the child and assisting the family.

• Failure to report can result in a fine of not more than $500. A person who fails to report with the intent to conceal abuse or neglect of a child shall be imprisoned not more than six months or fined not more than $1,000, or both.
• Immunity: Any person other than a person suspected of child abuse, who in good faith makes a report, shall be immune from any civil or criminal liability which might otherwise be incurred or imposed as a result of making a report.
• Legislation has been introduced that would bar immunity for any person found to have made three or more reports lacking a good faith basis (2023 VT H.B. 169 (NS)).
• An employer or supervisor shall not discharge; demote; transfer; reduce pay, benefits, or work privileges; prepare a negative work performance evaluation; or take any other action detrimental to any employee because that employee filed a good faith report. Any person making a report shall have a civil cause of action for appropriate compensatory and punitive damages against any person who causes detrimental changes in the employment status of the reporting party by reason of his or her making a report.
• The name of and any identifying information about either the person making the report or any person mentioned in the report shall be confidential unless: (1) the person making the report specifically allows disclosure; (2) a Human Services Board proceeding or a judicial proceeding results therefrom; (3) a court, after a hearing, finds probable cause to believe that the report was not made in good faith and orders the Department to make the name of the reporter available; or (4) a review has been requested pursuant to section 4916a of this title (challenging substantiation of a report of abuse or neglect), and the Department has determined that identifying information can be provided without compromising the safety of the reporter or the persons mentioned in the report.
• Except for clergy in certain situations (see “When is a report required?” above), a person may not refuse to make a required report on the grounds that making the report would violate a privilege or disclose a confidential communication.
• 2023 VT S.B. 16 (NS) proposes to remove the reporting exception for clergy.
• A mandated reporter shall not be deemed to have violated the reporting requirements solely on the basis of making condoms available to a secondary school student in accordance with 16 V.S.A. § 132, which requires that each school district make condoms available to all students in its secondary schools, free of charge.

33 V.S.A. §§ 4912-4914