Mandatory child abuse or neglect reporting requirements

Teachers are often the first adults to whom abused children turn for help, and educators who see the children every day and can observe their appearance and behavior are considered a primary source for helping to spot and stop a child’s suffering.

Reporting requirements and immunity provisions

Texas law requires any professional who has reasonable cause to believe that a child is being abused or neglected to make a report to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services or any local or state law enforcement agency. New legislation approved during the 2025 session requires that the report must be made within 24 hours. If the suspected abuse or neglect involves a person responsible for the care, custody or welfare of the child, the report must be made to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services only — a report to a local or state law enforcement agency is not sufficient in that instance.

Reports must be made of any type of suspected abuse or neglect, not just acts of physical abuse. The obligation to report includes abuse that may occur in the future. Failure to report is a class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,000, 180 days in jail or both. New legislation approved during the 2025 legislative session and effective on Sept. 1, 2025, provides that a school district that has engaged in intentional misconduct in hiring, supervising or employing a professional school employee who fails to report suspected child abuse or neglect waives immunity from suit and that the professional school employee may not assert official immunity for failure to report. A person who files suit may be awarded actual damages of up to $500,000 and recover court costs and attorney’s fees.

Tuesdays with TCTA: Watch now to learn more about the new laws impacting child abuse and neglect reporting.

Abuse defined

Abuse includes physical, sexual or mental abuse and also failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent a child from being abused. The contents of a report must include, if known:

1. the name and address of the child;
2. the name and address of the person responsible for the care, custody or welfare of the child;
3. the facts that caused the individual to believe the child has been abused or neglected and the source of the information;
4. the individual’s name and telephone number;
5. the individual’s home address or business address and profession, if the individual is a professional who is required to make a report of abuse or neglect;
6. any other pertinent information concerning the alleged or suspected abuse or neglect.

Those reporting are not required to have proof that a child is being abused but must have reasonable cause to know or suspect abuse. As long as the report is made in good faith, the reporter is protected from civil and criminal liability. 

Districts must provide training to new teachers on recognition and prevention of child abuse and/or neglect, including sexual abuse. For more information, click here.

Strict confidentiality provided

The Department of Family Protective Services does not accept anonymous reports. However, the Texas Family Code specifically states that both a child abuse report and the identity of an individual making a report are confidential and may be disclosed only by order of a court or to a law enforcement officer for the purposes of conducting a criminal investigation.

A court may not order the disclosure of a reporter’s identity or a child abuse report unless a motion has been filed and the judge has conducted a private review of the requested information and determined that the disclosure is essential to the administration of justice and is not likely to endanger the life or safety of the child or reporter. 

Your responsibility to report

You may choose to inform an administrator of your suspicions of abuse; however, this action does not satisfy or negate your responsibility under Texas law to make a report within 24 hours. The Texas Family Code states that “a professional may not delegate to or rely on another person to make the report.”

Additionally, legislation passed in 2025 requires school officials to provide parents notice not later than one school business day after the date that a school district employee first suspects that a criminal offense has been committed against the parent’s child. Although not specifically required in the bill, you may choose to inform administration of your suspicions so that the district can determine whether it is appropriate to notify the parent.

Find more information online at www.dfps.texas.gov.

Abuse hotline: Call the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ 24-hour, toll-free telephone hotline to report suspected abuse or neglect: 800-252-5400. Or file a nonemergency report online.