Mandatory Reporting in Arizona: Who Must Report and Penalties

Mandatory reporting in Arizona is governed by two statutes: A.R.S. 13-3620 for children and A.R.S. 46-454 for vulnerable adults. Both require anyone in a covered role to immediately report suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation by phone or electronic means, and both back that duty with criminal penalties. The list of who must report is broader than most people assume. For children, it reaches beyond licensed professionals to include parents, guardians, and anyone responsible for a child’s care.

Who Must Report Suspected Child Abuse

A.R.S. 13-3620 makes a person a mandatory reporter as soon as they form a reasonable belief that a child has been abused, neglected, or subjected to a reportable offense. The covered categories include:

Physicians, physician assistants, dentists, chiropractors, optometrists, nurses, psychologists, counselors, behavioral health professionals, and social workers who develop the belief while treating a patient.
Peace officers, child welfare investigators, and child safety workers.
Teachers, substitute teachers, and other school staff who develop the belief in the course of their employment.
Members of the clergy, priests, and Christian Science practitioners.
Parents, stepparents, and guardians of the child.
Domestic violence and sexual assault victim advocates who develop the belief through their work.
Any other person who has responsibility for a child’s care or treatment.

That last category catches people who assume the duty only applies to professionals. If you are responsible for a child’s care in Arizona, you are a mandatory reporter.¹

The Clergy Confession Exemption

Clergy, priests, and Christian Science practitioners may withhold information received through a confidential communication or confession if they determine withholding it is reasonable and necessary within the concepts of their religion. The exemption is narrow. It covers the confession or privileged communication itself. If a clergy member observes signs of abuse outside a confessional setting, the ordinary duty to report applies.¹

Who Must Report Vulnerable Adult Abuse

A.R.S. 46-454 covers a separate but similarly broad group when the person at risk is a vulnerable adult, meaning someone 18 or older who cannot protect themselves from abuse, neglect, or exploitation because of a physical or mental impairment. That includes people legally incapacitated under the probate code.²

The mandatory reporters are:

Physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, home health providers, speech, physical, and occupational therapists, long-term care providers, social workers, medical examiners, developmental disabilities providers, and hospital interns or residents.
Peace officers, fire protection personnel, and Department of Economic Security employees.
Guardians and conservators of vulnerable adults.
Anyone else with responsibility for a vulnerable adult’s care.
Attorneys, accountants, trustees, and anyone responsible for preparing tax records or managing a vulnerable adult’s property, but only when they discover abuse, neglect, or exploitation in the course of that work.

The inclusion of financial professionals is deliberate. Arizona recognizes that the people handling a vulnerable adult’s money are often the first to see exploitation, and the statute imposes a legal duty to report it.³

What Triggers the Duty

For children, the duty attaches when the reporter has a reasonable belief the child has suffered physical injury, abuse, a reportable offense, or neglect inflicted by other than accidental means. Proof is not required. Neither is investigation. Reasonable grounds to suspect harm are enough.¹

A.R.S. 8-201 defines abuse as the infliction of physical injury, impairment of bodily function, disfigurement, or serious emotional damage caused by someone with care, custody, or control of the child. It also covers sexual offenses, unreasonable confinement, and physical harm from exposure to environments where dangerous drugs are being manufactured. Neglect means a parent’s, guardian’s, or custodian’s inability or unwillingness to provide food, clothing, shelter, supervision, or medical care when that failure causes a substantial risk of harm. If the shortfall is only because appropriate services for a disability or chronic illness are unavailable, it does not count as neglect.⁴

Prenatal drug exposure is treated as neglect when a health professional determines a newborn was exposed to a dangerous drug or controlled substance and the exposure was not the result of medical treatment. The determination can rest on clinical indicators, the mother’s substance use history, medical history, or toxicology results.⁴

For vulnerable adults, A.R.S. 46-451 defines three categories of harm. Abuse covers intentional physical harm, injury from negligent acts or omissions, unreasonable confinement, sexual abuse or sexual assault, and emotional abuse. Neglect means withholding food, water, medication, medical services, shelter, supervision, heating, cooling, or other services necessary to maintain minimum physical or mental health. Exploitation means the illegal or improper use of a vulnerable adult or their resources for another person’s profit or advantage. Exploitation is the category that most often goes unreported, and it covers everything from draining a bank account to pressuring someone with dementia into signing over property.²

How to File a Report

For a child, call the Arizona Child Abuse Hotline at 1-888-767-2445, operated by the Department of Child Safety, or make an electronic report. You can also report directly to a peace officer. For an Indian child living on a reservation, the report goes to tribal law enforcement or tribal social services.⁵¹

One routing rule catches people out. If the person suspected of causing the harm does not have care, custody, or control of the child, the report must go to a peace officer only, not to DCS.¹

Provide, to the extent you know:

The child’s name, address, age, and the names of the parents or custodians.
The nature and extent of the suspected abuse or neglect, including any evidence of previous harm.
Any other information that might help establish the cause of the injury or neglect.

The statute does not require a separate written follow-up. Some reporters believe a written report must follow within 48 to 72 hours. A.R.S. 13-3620 imposes no such requirement. The immediate phone or electronic report satisfies the duty.¹

For a vulnerable adult, call a peace officer or the Adult Protective Services Central Intake Unit at (877) 767-2385, or file online through the DES website 24 hours a day.⁶ Guardians and conservators face a heightened obligation: in addition to reporting to APS, they must also report to the Superior Court.³

Legal Protections for People Who Report

Anyone who furnishes a child abuse report, provides information or records, or participates in a resulting investigation or judicial proceeding is immune from civil and criminal liability. The immunity does not apply if the reporter acted with malice, or if the reporter is themselves charged with or suspected of abusing the child.¹

For vulnerable adult reports, A.R.S. 46-454 goes further with an explicit anti-retaliation provision. Retaliation is prohibited against anyone who reports in good faith and against the vulnerable adult who is the subject of the report. Any adverse action taken within 90 days after a report is filed is presumed to be retaliation, shifting the burden to the employer or institution to prove otherwise.³

Penalties for Failing to Report

A mandatory reporter who fails to report suspected child abuse or neglect is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail.¹⁷

The penalty escalates sharply when the unreported conduct involves a reportable offense. Under A.R.S. 13-3620, reportable offenses include sexual offenses under Title 13, Chapter 14, sexual exploitation of minors under Title 13, Chapter 35.1, furnishing harmful items to minors, surreptitious recording of a minor, child sex trafficking, incest, and unlawful mutilation. Failing to report any of these is a class 6 felony, carrying a presumptive sentence of one year in prison and up to two years if aggravating factors are present.¹

The same structure applies to vulnerable adult reporting. Failure to report is a class 1 misdemeanor, and it becomes a class 6 felony if the unreported conduct involves a sexual offense under Title 13, Chapter 14.³

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3620 – Duty to Report Abuse, Physical Injury, Neglect and Denial or Deprivation of Medical or Surgical Care or Nourishment of Minors
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 46-451 – Definitions; Program Goals
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 46-454 – Duty to Report Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of Vulnerable Adults
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 8 Child Safety 8-201 – Definitions
5
Arizona Department of Child Safety. Arizona Department of Child Safety
6
Arizona Department of Economic Security. Report Adult Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation
7
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-707 – Misdemeanors; Sentencing