Washington -- U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced today the Child Abuse Reporting Enforcement (CARE) Act which would require states to mandate the reporting of child abuse to law enforcement and child protective services in order to receive federal social services funding, and to make it a felony for any individual who fails to report such abuse.

"If common sense doesn't dictate when and to whom an adult should report child abuse, this law will," said Menendez. "The bottom line is simple: If you see something, say something."

The goal of the Menendez legislation is to create consistency among state child abuse reporting laws. The Senator's bill would require a penalty of at least a year in prison and would specify that all witnesses report abuse to the law enforcement authorities and child protective services. Recent events surrounding child abuse allegations at Penn State University underscored the lack of uniformity in child abuse reporting laws among states. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 18 states require that any person who witnesses child abuse report it while many states specify that only certain professionals report abuse. Inconsistent state laws create confusion leading to a failure to report abuse.

In New Jersey, any person with information about child abuse is required to report that information to the Division of Youth and Family Services. Failure to report abuse is an offense punishable by up to six months imprisonment. According to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania code, Pennsylvania requires that the staff of a medical or other public or private institution, school, facility or agency must immediately notify the person in charge of the relevant institution, who ultimately has the responsibility to report the alleged incident to government authorities.

###