Mandated Reporters in Michigan: Duties, Reporting, and Penalties

A mandated reporter in Michigan is a professional the state requires to report suspected child abuse or neglect directly to MDHHS as soon as reasonable cause exists to suspect it. The duty is personal, cannot be delegated to a supervisor, and a knowing failure to report is a misdemeanor carrying up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine, with separate civil liability for any harm the child suffers after the point the report should have been made.

Who Has the Duty

MCL 722.623 names the professions whose members must report. The list is long, but the categories are consistent: people whose work brings them into regular contact with children.¹

Medical and health professionals: physicians, dentists, physician’s assistants, registered dental hygienists, medical examiners, nurses, emergency medical care providers, audiologists, psychologists, physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, and athletic trainers
Mental health and social services: marriage and family therapists, licensed professional counselors, social workers at every licensing level, registered social service technicians, and anyone employed in a professional capacity in a Friend of the Court office
Education: school administrators, school counselors, and teachers
Law enforcement officers
Members of the clergy
Regulated child care providers

Physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and athletic trainers were added by Public Act 47 of 2022.²

Anyone not on the list can still choose to report. The mandatory obligation belongs only to the professionals the statute names.

What Triggers the Duty to Report

The threshold is “reasonable cause to suspect” child abuse or neglect. You do not need proof. You do not need to know the legal definitions. You do not need to know who caused the harm. If your training and observations give you a reasonable basis for suspicion, you report.³

You are also not expected to investigate. Trying to confirm what you suspect before calling is outside the role the statute contemplates and can delay the response. Your part ends at the report; the investigation belongs to the state.

How to Make the Report

Contact MDHHS Centralized Intake immediately, either by calling 855-444-3911 or by filing through the Michigan Online Reporting System. Intake operates around the clock.³

A phone report has to be followed by a written report within 72 hours. If you file online and the electronic submission contains all the required information, it counts as both the initial and the written report, and no separate follow-up is needed.¹

The written report must contain the child’s name and a description of the suspected abuse or neglect. If you have them, include the names and addresses of the parents or guardian, the people the child lives with, the child’s age, and any other information that might help establish the cause or manner of the abuse. Include what you can. You are not expected to have every field filled in.¹

If You Work at a Hospital, Agency, or School

You must notify the person in charge of your workplace that you have made a report and provide a copy of the written or electronic report. One report from a given hospital, agency, or school satisfies the requirement, but telling your supervisor is never a substitute for your own report to MDHHS. The duty runs to you as an individual. The statute also bars employers from firing or penalizing staff for making a report or cooperating with the investigation.¹

Privilege and Confidentiality

Michigan sets aside nearly every form of privileged communication when a mandated report is at issue. A therapist cannot refuse to report because of client confidentiality. A physician cannot invoke the physician-patient privilege. The two exceptions are attorney-client privilege and communications made to a member of the clergy in a confession or similarly confidential communication.⁴

The clergy exception is narrower than it sounds. It shields only what a clergy member learns inside a confession or its equivalent. Information picked up in any other capacity, such as a pastor noticing injuries during a youth program, falls under the ordinary reporting duty.⁴

The reporter’s identity is confidential. It can be released only with the reporter’s consent or by judicial process. That is not the same as anonymous reporting: your name is in the record and known to the agencies handling the case, but shielded from the alleged abuser and the public. Improperly disseminating information from a report, record, or the central registry is itself a misdemeanor, with up to 93 days in jail, a fine up to $100, and civil liability for resulting damages.⁵⁶

Protections for Good-Faith Reporters

Anyone who acts in good faith while making a report, cooperating with an investigation, or otherwise carrying out duties under the Child Protection Law has immunity from civil and criminal liability. The statute goes further and presumes good faith. A person challenging the report has to prove otherwise.⁵

A report that turns out to be unfounded, but was made in good faith, carries no penalty. That protection exists to keep reporters from second-guessing themselves in exactly the situations the law is meant to catch.

Penalties for Not Reporting

A mandated reporter who knowingly fails to report suspected child abuse or neglect commits a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail, a fine up to $500, or both. The word “knowingly” matters: the prosecution has to show the reporter was aware of facts that should have prompted a report and consciously chose not to act.⁶

The civil exposure is broader. MCL 722.633(1) makes a mandated reporter who fails to report “civilly liable for the damages proximately caused by the failure.” If a child suffers additional abuse after the point when a report should have been made, the child or the family can sue the reporter personally for those injuries. Civil liability does not require that the failure was knowing. Any failure to report that causes further harm can support a lawsuit.⁶

Professional licensing consequences sit alongside those. MCL 722.633 does not itself address license revocation, but Michigan licensing boards in medicine, education, and social work have independent authority to discipline licensees for conduct that violates state law. A conviction or civil judgment for failure to report can serve as the basis for disciplinary proceedings.

Penalties for Intentionally False Reports

An intentionally false report is a crime, and the severity tracks what was falsely alleged:

If the alleged abuse would have been a misdemeanor or non-criminal conduct, the false reporter faces a misdemeanor with up to 93 days in jail, a fine up to $100, or both.
If the alleged abuse would have been a felony, the false reporter faces a felony punishable by the lesser of the penalty for the crime falsely reported, or up to four years in prison and a $2,000 fine.⁶

A good-faith report that later proves unfounded is not a false report. The two provisions do different work, and the immunity for genuine suspicion is the reason reporters can act on what they see without waiting for certainty.

Vulnerable Adults Are Covered by a Different Statute

Mandated reporting for adults sits in a separate law. Under MCL 400.11a, professionals who provide health care, educational, social welfare, mental health, or other human services, along with employees of agencies licensed in those fields, law enforcement officers, and employees of the county medical examiner’s office, must report suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult.⁷

The procedure is different from child abuse reporting. The oral report goes to the county Department of Social Services, now generally handled through MDHHS, in the county where the abuse is suspected to have occurred. A written follow-up is optional. The report must include the adult’s name and a description of the abuse, neglect, or exploitation, along with available information about the adult’s age, guardian, next of kin, and persons residing with the adult. If a report suggests criminal activity, the county department has to refer it to law enforcement.⁷

1
Michigan Legislature. MCL 722.623 – Child Protection Law (Excerpt)
2
Michigan Legislature. 2022 Public Act 47
3
Department of Education. Mandated Reporting
4
Michigan Legislature. MCL 722.631 – Child Protection Law (Excerpt)
5
Michigan Legislature. MCL 722.625 – Child Protection Law (Excerpt)
6
Michigan Legislature. MCL 722.633 – Child Protection Law (Excerpt)
7
Michigan Legislature. MCL 400.11a – Social Welfare Act