Arizona law requires that ALL adults responsible for the care or treatment of a minor IMMEDIATELY report any “reasonable belief or suspicion” that a child (anyone under 18 years of age) is the victim of sexual abuse, neglect or emotional abuse. This includes contact with a minor of a sexual nature (this could be anything from actual sexual acts to texting pornographic photos and even sexually suggestive language) evidence of non-accidental physical injury, including bruises, broken bones, burns, cuts or other injuries, neglect, such as failure to get a child proper care for an illness or injury or abandonment-failure to properly feed, clothe and shelter a minor. ARS §13-3620.
If you as a coach, administrator or volunteer have a reasonable suspicion of any of these things it is NOT your job to investigate but rather to IMMEDIATELY report your suspicion to local law enforcement and/or Child Protective Services: Arizona Child Abuse Hotline at 1-888-SOS-CHILD (1-888-767-2445)
Failure to timely report is itself a crime! The law requires adults who supervise children to timely report and punishes them for failure to do so. Case in point, should you think this could never happen to you, this article in today's Arizona Daily Star reports a local vice principal and counselor have in fact been charged with a felony for failure to timely report. Please read this article and please be vigilant to protect the kids in your care.
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