Colorado Mandatory Reporting Requirements Regarding Children

Colorado Mandatory Reporting Requirements Regarding Children subjected to abuse or neglect or [observation of] the child being subjected to circumstances or conditions which would reasonably result in abuse or neglect.


Who Must Report?
• Physicians or surgeons, including physicians in training;
• Child health associates;
• Medical examiners or coroners;
• Dentists;
• Osteopaths;
• Optometrists;
• Chiropractors;
• Chiropodist or podiatrists;
• Registered nurses or licensed practical nurses;
• Hospital personnel engaged in the admission, care, or treatment of patients;
• Christian science practitioners;
• Public or private school officials or employees;
• Social workers;
• Mental health professionals;
• Dental hygienists;
• Psychologists;
• Physical therapists;
• Veterinarians;
• Peace officers;
• Pharmacists;
• Commercial film and photographic print processors;
• Firefighters;
• Victim’s advocates;
• Licensed professional counselors;
• Licensed marriage and family therapists;
• Unlicensed psychotherapists;
• Clergy members (but not if the reasonable cause is acquired through a privileged communication);
• Registered dietitians;
• Workers in the state department of human services;
• Juvenile parole and probation officers;
• Child and family investigators;
• Officers and agents of the state bureau of animal protection
• Animal control officers.
• Worker in a licensed child care facility or agency

Reports should be made to the county department or local law enforcement agency.
Contents of Report
• The name, address, age, sex, and race of the child;
• The name and address of the person responsible for the suspected abuse or neglect;
• The nature and extent of the child’s injuries, including any evidence of previous cases of known or suspected abuse or neglect of the child or the child’s siblings;
• The family composition;
• The source of the report and the name, address, and occupation of the person making the report;
• Any action taken by the reporting source; and
• Any other information that the person making the report believes may be helpful.
If any officer or employee of a local department of health or state department of public health or environment makes a report, he or she shall include only the following information:
• The name, address, and sex of the child
• The name and address of the person responsible for the child
• The name and address of the person who is alleged to be responsible for the suspected abuse or neglect, if known
• The general nature of the child’s injury

Timing/Other Procedures 
An initial report must be made immediately. A written follow-up report shall be made “promptly.”
Other • A “victim’s advocate” means a person at a battered women’s shelter or rape crisis organization or a comparable community-based advocacy program for victims of domestic violence or sexual assault and does not include an advocate employed by any law enforcement agency:
o Whose primary function is to render advice, counsel, or assist victims of domestic or family violence or sexual assault;
o Who has undergone not less than fifteen hours of training as a victim’s advocate or, with respect to an advocate who assists victims of sexual assault, not less than thirty hours of training as a sexual assault victim’s advocate; and
o Who supervises employees of the program, administers the program, or works under the direction of a supervisor of the program.
• Anyone who willfully fails to make a required report will be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor and shall be liable for damages caused thereby. 
Source/Applicable Statute(s) Child Protection Act of 1987, Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 19-3-301 et
seq., 26-6-104 (2009).