Anonymous Reporting to Child Abuse Hotlines

More than 40 of the 50 states allow anonymous calls to their child abuse hotlines. This opens the door for less-than-honest people to weaponize the child protection system against innocent families with whom they may have a beef—be it a contentious ex, a nosey neighbor, or a relative who simply thinks they know better than mom or dad.

Every year, roughly 83% of all child welfare investigations are closed as unfounded or unsubstantiated, and that number is even higher among cases that begin with an anonymous call. That’s a lot of resources being wasted chasing ghosts while children who are actually abused are being overlooked.

By replacing anonymous reporting with confidential reporting, we can save the lives of those children and save thousands of children in innocent families from the trauma of an unwarranted investigation.

Toward that end, we engage in grassroots efforts to promote bills similar to this model, presented by the Parental Rights Foundation and approved by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Together we can protect children from unnecessary investigations and streamline the system to find and protect more children in need of services, as well.