722.623 Individual required to report child abuse or neglect; report by telephone or online reporting system; written report; contents; transmitting report to centralized intake; copies to prosecuting attorney and probate court; conditions requiring transmission of report to law enforcement agency; pregnancy or presence of sexually transmitted infection in child less than 12 years of age; exposure to or contact with methamphetamine production.

Sec. 3.

(1) An individual is required to report under this act as follows:
(a) A physician, dentist, physician’s assistant, registered dental hygienist, medical examiner, nurse, person licensed to provide emergency medical care, audiologist, psychologist, marriage and family therapist, licensed professional counselor, social worker, licensed master’s social worker, licensed bachelor’s social worker, registered social service technician, social service technician, a person employed in a professional capacity in any office of the friend of the court, school administrator, school counselor or teacher, law enforcement officer, member of the clergy, or regulated child care provider who has reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or child neglect shall make an immediate report to centralized intake by telephone, or, if available, through the online reporting system, of the suspected child abuse or child neglect. Within 72 hours after making an oral report by telephone to centralized intake, the reporting person shall file a written report as required in this act. If the immediate report has been made using the online reporting system and that report includes the information required in a written report under subsection (2), that report is considered a written report for the purposes of this section and no additional written report is required. If the reporting person is a member of the staff of a hospital, agency, or school, the reporting person shall notify the person in charge of the hospital, agency, or school of his or her finding and that the report has been made, and shall make a copy of the written or electronic report available to the person in charge. A notification to the person in charge of a hospital, agency, or school does not relieve the member of the staff of the hospital, agency, or school of the obligation of reporting to the department as required by this section. One report from a hospital, agency, or school is adequate to meet the reporting requirement. A member of the staff of a hospital, agency, or school shall not be dismissed or otherwise penalized for making a report required by this act or for cooperating in an investigation.
(b) A department employee who is 1 of the following and has reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or child neglect shall make a report of suspected child abuse or child neglect to the department in the same manner as required under subdivision (a):
(i) Eligibility specialist.
(ii) Family independence manager.
(iii) Family independence specialist.
(iv) Social services specialist.
(v) Social work specialist.
(vi) Social work specialist manager.
(vii) Welfare services specialist.
(c) Any employee of an organization or entity that, as a result of federal funding statutes, regulations, or contracts, would be prohibited from reporting in the absence of a state mandate or court order. A person required to report under this subdivision shall report in the same manner as required under subdivision (a).
(2) The written report or a report made using the online reporting system shall contain the name of the child and a description of the child abuse or child neglect. If possible, the report shall contain the names and addresses of the child’s parents, the child’s guardian, the persons with whom the child resides, and the child’s age. The report shall contain other information available to the reporting person that might establish the cause of the child abuse or child neglect, and the manner in which the child abuse or child neglect occurred.
(3) The department shall inform the reporting person of the required contents of the written report at the time the oral report is made by the reporting person.
(4) The written report required in this section shall be mailed or otherwise transmitted to centralized intake.
(5) Upon receipt of a written report of suspected child abuse or child neglect, the department may provide copies to the prosecuting attorney and the probate court of the counties in which the child suspected of being abused or neglected resides and is found.
(6) If an allegation, written report, or subsequent investigation of suspected child abuse or child neglect indicates a violation of sections 136b, 145c, 462a to 462h, or 520b to 520g of the Michigan penal code, 1931 PA 328, MCL 750.136b, 750.145c, 750.462a to 750.462h, and 750.520b to 750.520g, or section 7401c of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.7401c, involving methamphetamine has occurred, or if the allegation, written report, or subsequent investigation indicates that the suspected child abuse or child neglect was committed by an individual who is not a person responsible for the child’s health or welfare, including, but not limited to, a member of the clergy, a teacher, or a teacher’s aide, the department shall transmit a copy of the allegation or written report and the results of any investigation to a law enforcement agency in the county in which the incident occurred. If an allegation, written report, or subsequent investigation indicates that the individual who committed the suspected child abuse or child neglect is a child care provider and the department believes that the report has basis in fact, the department shall, within 24 hours of completion, transmit a copy of the written report or the results of the investigation to the child care regulatory agency with authority over the child care provider’s child care organization or adult foster care location authorized to care for a child.
(7) If a local law enforcement agency receives an allegation or written report of suspected child abuse or child neglect or discovers evidence of or receives a report of an individual allowing a child to be exposed to or to have contact with methamphetamine production, and the allegation, written report, or subsequent investigation indicates that the child abuse or child neglect or allowing a child to be exposed to or to have contact with methamphetamine production, was committed by a person responsible for the child’s health or welfare, the local law enforcement agency shall refer the allegation or provide a copy of the written report and the results of any investigation to the county department of the county in which the abused or neglected child is found, as required by subsection (1)(a). If an allegation, written report, or subsequent investigation indicates that the individual who committed the suspected child abuse or child neglect or allowed a child to be exposed to or to have contact with methamphetamine production, is a child care provider and the local law enforcement agency believes that the report has basis in fact, the local law enforcement agency shall transmit a copy of the written report or the results of the investigation to the child care regulatory agency with authority over the child care provider’s child care organization or adult foster care location authorized to care for a child. Nothing in this subsection or subsection (1) relieves the department of its responsibilities to investigate reports of suspected child abuse or child neglect under this act.
(8) For purposes of this act, the pregnancy of a child less than 12 years of age or the presence of a sexually transmitted infection in a child who is over 1 month of age but less than 12 years of age is reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or child neglect has occurred.
(9) In conducting an investigation of child abuse or child neglect, if the department suspects that a child has been exposed to or has had contact with methamphetamine production, the department shall immediately contact the law enforcement agency in the county in which the incident occurred.

722.623a: Knowledge or suspicion of alcohol, controlled substance, or metabolite of controlled substance in body of newborn infant; report required; exception.

Sec. 3a.

   In addition to the reporting requirement in section 3, a person who is required to report suspected child abuse or neglect under section 3(1) and who knows, or from the child’s symptoms has reasonable cause to suspect, that a newborn infant has any amount of alcohol, a controlled substance, or a metabolite of a controlled substance in his or her body shall report to the department in the same manner as required under section 3. A report is not required under this section if the person knows that the alcohol, controlled substance, or metabolite, or the child’s symptoms, are the result of medical treatment administered to the newborn infant or his or her mother.

722.624: Persons permitted to report child abuse or neglect.

Sec. 4.

   In addition to those persons required to report child abuse or neglect under section 3, any person, including a child, who has reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or neglect may report the matter to the department or a law enforcement agency.

722.631: Privileged communications.

Sec. 11.

   Any legally recognized privileged communication except that between attorney and client or that made to a member of the clergy in his or her professional character in a confession or similarly confidential communication is abrogated and shall not constitute grounds for excusing a report otherwise required to be made or for excluding evidence in a civil child protective proceeding resulting from a report made pursuant to this act. This section does not relieve a member of the clergy from reporting suspected child abuse or child neglect under section 3 if that member of the clergy receives information concerning suspected child abuse or child neglect while acting in any other capacity listed under section 3.

722.632: Report to law enforcement officials or probate court.

Sec. 12.

   This act shall not prohibit a person who has reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or neglect from making a report to the appropriate law enforcement officials or probate court.

722.633 Failure to report suspected child abuse or neglect; damages; violation as misdemeanor; unauthorized dissemination of information as misdemeanor; civil liability; maintaining report or record required to be expunged as misdemeanor; false report of child abuse or neglect.
Sec. 13.

(1) A person who is required by this act to report an instance of suspected child abuse or neglect and who fails to do so is civilly liable for the damages proximately caused by the failure.
(2) A person who is required by this act to report an instance of suspected child abuse or neglect and who knowingly fails to do so is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 93 days or a fine of not more than $500.00, or both.
(3) Except as provided in section 7, a person who disseminates, or who permits or encourages the dissemination of, information contained in the central registry and in reports and records made as provided in this act is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 93 days or a fine of not more than $100.00, or both, and is civilly liable for the damages proximately caused by the dissemination.
(4) A person who willfully maintains a report or record required to be expunged under section 7 is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 93 days or a fine of not more than $100.00, or both.
(5) A person who intentionally makes a false report of child abuse or neglect under this act knowing that the report is false is guilty of a crime as follows:
(a) If the child abuse or neglect reported would not constitute a crime or would constitute a misdemeanor if the report were true, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 93 days or a fine of not more than $100.00, or both.
(b) If the child abuse or neglect reported would constitute a felony if the report were true, the person is guilty of a felony punishable by the lesser of the following:
(i) The penalty for the child abuse or neglect falsely reported.
(ii) Imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or both.