Florida Mandated Reporter Statute

Florida Mandated Reporter Statute
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Florida Mandated Reporter Statute
Like several other states, the state of Florida has laws that govern the reporting of the abuse of children or adults. The Florida Statutes, under chapter 39, provides for any individuals with the knowledge or reasonable suspicions of abuse of any kind against a child to inform the Department of Children and Families through its Hotline. Under chapter 415, the department is also tasked with detecting and correcting abuse against the vulnerable adults (“Reporting Abuse of Children and Vulnerable Adults,” 2016). Even though any person may report cases of abuse, certain individuals are mandated under their occupation to report cases of abuse against both children and adults. These individuals are referred to as the professionally mandatory reporters. They may include teachers, daycare workers, law enforcement officers, nursing home staff, paramedics, adult day care workers, and foster care workers (“Florida Mandatory Reporting Laws,” 2018).
If faced with a mandated reporter issue, a person needs to gather the specific descriptions of the incident. He/she should then notify the Department of Children and Families with full details of the scenario. Contact may be made through telephone, fax, or through web reporting. Once a report has been made, it is the responsibility of the Florida Abuse Hotline counselor to determine whether the reported information fulfills the set legitimate requirements to be investigated (“Reporting Abuse of Children and Vulnerable Adults,” 2016).

Scenario: In the incident where one has enough reasons to believe that a child (a Florida resident) is a victim of abuse through harm or abandonment by the parent or guardian, the first step is to gather full descriptive information about the incident. This information may include the name and approximate age of the child, gender, relationship with the perpetrator, and current address. Next, the person should call the Florida Abuse Hotline through 1-800-962-2873 to reveal the incident. The information is then evaluated, and investigations initiated.
References
Florida Mandatory Reporting Laws. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/florida-mandatory-reporting-laws-24575
Reporting Abuse of Children and Vulnerable Adults. (2016). Retrieved from
https://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/abuse/publications/mandatedreporters.pdf