Are Virginia domestic-violence shelter and sexual-assault advocates required to report suspected child abuse?

Plain-English summary

Delegate Manoli Loupassi asked AG William Mims a question that matters a lot for trust between abuse survivors and the advocates who help them. Section 63.2-1509(A) lists Virginia's mandatory child-abuse reporters: doctors, nurses, social workers, probation officers, teachers, day care providers, mental-health professionals, law-enforcement officers, certain mediators, hospital and institutional staff caring for children, employees of organizations responsible for child care, court-appointed special advocates, certain trained adults, eligibility workers, and certified EMS personnel. Domestic-violence shelter and sexual-assault crisis center advocates are not named. Section 63.2-104.1 governs the confidentiality of communications with those advocates and is the reason the mandatory-reporter question came up. If advocates were mandatory reporters, the confidentiality framework would be weaker; if they were not, survivors could speak more openly.

The AG concluded that domestic-violence and sexual-assault advocates were not mandatory reporters by virtue of their role, but the answer was situational. If an advocate's actual duties brought them within one of the 15 enumerated categories (for example, if the advocate also functioned as a licensed social worker or mental-health professional, or had received the Department of Social Services training described in § 63.2-1509(A)(13)), the reporting duty kicked in. The hypotheticals Delegate Loupassi presented assumed (a) the shelter or center did not assume the care, custody, or control of the child, and (b) the advocate was not on the enumerated list. Under those facts, no mandatory-reporting duty existed.

The AG made one important addition: even without a mandatory duty, anyone is permitted to report suspected abuse under § 63.2-1510. So advocates always have the option of reporting, even when they are not required to. That permissive route preserves the advocate's professional judgment without compelling disclosure that might break a survivor's trust.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2009 (released January 2010). Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Virginia has updated its mandatory-reporter list multiple times. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify the current version of § 63.2-1509 before relying on any specific rule.

Common questions

Q: Who is a mandatory child-abuse reporter in Virginia?
A: The list at the time of this opinion: licensed medical professionals; hospital residents/interns and nurses; social workers; probation officers; teachers and school staff; pay-based child-care providers; mental-health professionals; law-enforcement and animal-control officers; certain court-referral mediators; hospital/institutional staff caring for placed children; employees of organizations responsible for care/custody/control of children; court-appointed special advocates; adults trained by DSS for this purpose; certain public-assistance eligibility workers; and certified EMS personnel.

Q: What was the AG's key qualifier?
A: An advocate who is also a licensed mental-health professional, social worker, or one of the other listed categories becomes a mandatory reporter through that other role. The job title "advocate" alone does not create the duty, but professional credentials do.

Q: Could an advocate report voluntarily?
A: Yes. Section 63.2-1510 permits any person who suspects child abuse to make a complaint. The mandatory list at § 63.2-1509(A) defines who must report; § 63.2-1510 keeps the door open for everyone else.

Q: Does the shelter taking custody of a child change the answer?
A: Yes. Section 63.2-1509(A)(11) includes any person associated with or employed by a private organization responsible for the care, custody, or control of children. The opinion expressly assumed in its hypotheticals that the shelter did not assume custody. If it did, the advocates would likely be reporters under category 11.

Background and statutory framework

Section 63.2-1509 implements Virginia's child abuse and neglect reporting framework. Subsection (A) lists who must report; subsection (B) covers timing and content; subsection (C) addresses immunity. Section 63.2-104.1 protects confidential communications with domestic-violence and sexual-assault advocates, with carefully drawn exceptions. Section 63.2-1510 makes permissive reporting available to "any person."

The opinion's analytic move is the duty-by-statutory-category approach: the AG read the mandatory-reporter list as exhaustive, not as a floor that could be expanded by inference. Adding an unlisted profession to the mandatory list is a job for the legislature.

Citations

• Va. Code Ann. § 63.2-1509(A) (mandatory child abuse reporters, 15 categories)
• Va. Code Ann. § 63.2-1509(A)(11) (organizations responsible for care/custody/control of children)
• Va. Code Ann. § 63.2-1510 (permissive reporting)
• Va. Code Ann. § 63.2-104.1 (confidentiality of advocate communications)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.oag.state.va.us/annual-reports-opinions/official-opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.oag.state.va.us/files/Opinions/2010/09-097-Loupassi.pdf

Original opinion text

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
Office of the Attorney General
William C. Mims

900 East Main Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
804-786-2071

Attorney General

January 5, 2010

The Honorable G. Manoli Loupassi
Member, House of Delegates
6002-A West Broad Street, Suite 200
Richmond, Virginia 23230

Dear Delegate Loupassi:

I am responding to your request for an official advisory opinion in accordance with § 2.2-505 of the Code of Virginia.

Issue Presented

You ask concerning advocates working in domestic violence shelters or sexual assault crisis centers, who are subject to § 63.2-104.1, and whether § 63.2-1509 mandates such persons to report child abuse and neglect.

Response

It is my opinion that advocates in domestic violence shelters and sexual assault crisis centers generally are not statutorily mandated to report child abuse and neglect. However, when such an advocate performs activities that would place him under any of the categories in § 63.2-1509(A), he would be required to report suspected child abuse or neglect.

Background

You relate three specific hypothetical situations concerning the application of § 63.2-1509.[1] In each of these hypothetical fact scenarios, the shelter or center does not assume the care, custody, or control of the child. Also, you report that the advocate is not a mental health professional or other person enumerated in § 63.2-1509(A)(1)-(9) or a person who has received the training described in § 63.2-1509(A)(13). The distinguishing facts in each hypothetical you present are related to the type of contact the child has with the center or shelter and the nature of the service provided to the parent or child.

Applicable Law and Discussion

Section 63.2-1509(A) requires that

persons, who in their professional or official capacity, have reason to suspect that a child is an abused or neglected child, shall report the matter immediately to the local department of the county or city wherein the child resides or wherein the abuse or neglect is believed to have occurred or to the [State Department of Social Services'] toll-free child abuse and neglect hotline[.]

Further, § 63.2-1509(A) lists the persons who are mandated to report such abuse and neglect:

1. Any person licensed to practice medicine or any of the healing arts;
2. Any hospital resident or intern, and any person employed in the nursing profession;
3. Any person employed as a social worker;
4. Any probation officer;
5. Any teacher or other person employed in a public or private school, kindergarten or nursery school;
6. Any person providing full-time or part-time child care for pay on a regularly planned basis;
7. Any mental health professional;
8. Any law-enforcement officer or animal control officer;
9. Any mediator eligible to receive court referrals pursuant to § 8.01-576.8;
10. Any professional staff person, not previously enumerated, employed by a private or state-operated hospital, institution or facility to which children have been committed or where children have been placed for care and treatment;
11. Any person associated with or employed by any private organization responsible for the care, custody or control of children;
12. Any person who is designated a court-appointed special advocate pursuant to Article 5 (§ 9.1-151 et seq.) of Chapter 1 of Title 9.1;
13. Any person, over the age of 18 years, who has received training approved by the Department of Social Services for the purposes of recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect;
14. Any person employed by a local department as defined in § 63.2-100 who determines eligibility for public assistance; and
15. Any emergency medical services personnel certified by the Board of Health pursuant to § 32.1-111.5, unless such personnel immediately reports the matter directly to the attending physician at the hospital to which the child is transported, who shall make such report forthwith.

Only the persons enumerated in § 63.2-1509(A) have an affirmative statutory duty to report suspected child abuse and neglect. I note that in addition to the affirmative duty placed on some persons to report suspected child abuse or neglect, "[a]ny person who suspects that a child is an abused or neglected child may make a complaint concerning such child."[2]

Therefore, based upon the facts in the hypothetical scenarios you present, advocates in domestic violence shelters or sexual assault crisis centers generally are not statutorily mandated to reporter child abuse and neglect. However, should the duties of an advocate in a domestic violence shelter or sexual assault crisis center place the advocate into one of the categories enumerated in § 63.2-1509, then such advocate would have an affirmative duty to report any suspected child abuse or neglect.

Conclusion

Accordingly, it is my opinion that advocates in domestic violence shelters and sexual assault crisis centers generally are not statutorily mandated to report child abuse and neglect. However, when such an advocate performs activities that would place him under any of the categories in § 63.2-1509(A), he would be required to report suspected child abuse or neglect.

Thank you for letting me be of service to you.

Sincerely,

William C. Mims

1. For purposes of this opinion, I base my conclusions solely on the hypothetical facts that you present. Should any of the facts change, the conclusion of the opinion also may change.
2. VA. CODE ANN. § 63.2-1510 (2007).