California

How does state law define child abuse and neglect for reporting purposes?

• Mandated reporters must report abuse or neglect as defined by California Penal statute 11165.6 and legal guidance interpreting the statute.
• The term “child abuse or neglect” includes:
  • Physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person;
  • Sexual abuse as defined in Section 11165.1;
  • Neglect as defined in Section 11165.2;
  • The willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangerment of the person or health of a child, as defined in Section 11165.3; and
  • Unlawful corporal punishment or injury as defined in Section 11165.4.
• “Child abuse or neglect” does not include a mutual affray between minors. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include an injury caused by reasonable and necessary force used by a peace officer acting within the course and scope of his or her employment as a peace officer.
• “Sexual abuse” means sexual assault or sexual exploitation as defined by the following:
  • “Sexual assault” means conduct in violation of one or more of the following sections: Section 261 (rape), subdivision (d) of Section 261.5 (statutory rape), Section 264.1 (rape in concert), Section 285 (incest), Section 286 (sodomy), Section 287 or former Section 288a (oral copulation), subdivision (a) or (b), or paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 288 (lewd or lascivious acts upon a child), Section 289 (sexual penetration), or Section 647.6 (child molestation).
  • “Sexual exploitation” refers to any of the following:
    • Conduct involving matter depicting a minor engaged in obscene acts in violation of Section 311.2 (preparing, selling, or distributing obscene matter) or subdivision (a) of Section 311.4 (employment of minor to perform obscene acts).
    • A person who knowingly promotes, aids, or assists, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a child, or a person responsible for a child’s welfare, who knowingly permits or encourages a child to engage in, or assist others to engage in, prostitution or a live performance involving obscene sexual conduct, or to either pose or model alone or with others for purposes of preparing a film, photograph, negative, slide, drawing, painting, or other pictorial depiction, involving obscene sexual conduct. For the purpose of this section, “person responsible for a child’s welfare” means a parent, guardian, foster parent, or a licensed administrator or employee of a public or private residential home, residential school, or other residential institution.
    • A person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except for those activities by law enforcement and prosecution agencies and other persons described in subdivisions (c) and (e) of Section 311.3.
    • “Commercial sexual exploitation” refers to either of the following:
      • The sexual trafficking of a child, as described in subdivision (c) of Section 236.1.
      • The provision of food, shelter, or payment to a child in exchange for the performance of any sexual act described in this section or subdivision (c) of Section 236.1.

Are child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, statutory rape, incest, intimate partner violence, sexual exploitation and/or trafficking of a minor reportable as child abuse or neglect and if so, how are they defined and what is reportable?

For the most current definitions of abuse and neglect, refer to the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act at the California Legislature.