Child Abuse Reporting Enforcement Act

S. 1879 will strip states of federal funding if they do not create a law that makes failing to report child abuse a felony offense. Individuals charged with not reporting child abuse could face a minimum of one year in prison. HSLDA is very concerned with the aggressive tactics in S. 1879, which we believe will lead to a “police state” of spying and fear. S. 1879 not only requires citizens to report actual child abuse, but also requires them to report any suspicion of child abuse.

HSLDA has almost 30 years of experience defending homeschoolers from social services investigations when an anonymous reporter has filed an allegation of child abuse against an innocent family. This mandatory reporting will not only increase the number of these baseless reports but will also waste a large portion of social services’ time and resources, hurting the children who really need help. We believe that under the U.S. Constitution the states, not the federal government have the responsibility to define who is a mandatory reporter and decide how to handle child abuse investigations.