Nobody Wins: Educators' Perspectives on Mandatory Reporting

Across the United States, educators are mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect. But reporting rarely helps protect children from harm. We need an alternative model that prioritizes family relationships and addresses family challenges. To facilitate such a transition—from mandatory reporting to mandated support—we must understand our current landscape. Here we present insights from a 2024 national survey with University of California, Irvine, of more than 1,000 school staff, and review data that informs a mandated support agenda: wraparound services, family engagement, student education, professional development and policy change. 

Educators and schools do fantastic work for children’s well-being. Yet, our collective failure to support children and families is evident, whether we consider food insecurity, homelessness, discrimination, lead exposure or child labor. We do not ask educators to contact departments of agriculture, housing, civil rights, environmental protection or labor for these failures, but all states require educators to activate child protective services agencies as mandatory reporters of child maltreatment. Yet mandatory reporting may do more harm than good