Ohio
Mandated reporters are individuals who are legally required to report known or suspected abuse and neglect of vulnerable populations to state and/or local authorities. Laws surrounding mandated reporting vary from state-to-state so please ensure your familiarity with your state's laws regarding individuals who are required to report known or suspected abuse and neglect.
Links
- State regulation.
- State training and resources
- Abuse hotline: 1-855-O-H-CHILD.
Ohio's Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) Registry on Child Abuse and Neglect is a confidential database containing allegations of reports of child abuse and/or neglect and the parties involved. Information contained in the SACWIS Registry is highly confidential and released only under strict guidelines set forth in federal and state rules and law.
Ohio's SACWIS Alleged Perpetrator Search (OSAPS)
A SACWIS Registry search confirms whether an individual has been named an Alleged Perpetrator for a Substantiated or Indicated report of child abuse and/or neglect. If the search reveals there are no reports associated with the individual’s name as an Alleged Perpetrator of child abuse and/or neglect, a “No Match” letter is provided. If the search reveals a report associated with the individual’s name as an Alleged Perpetrator of child abuse and/or neglect, a “Match” letter is provided. The “Match” letter confirms the individual as an Alleged Perpetrator and provides the date of each report, along with the allegation, case disposition (substantiated and/or indicated), and the county Public Children Services Agency (PCSA) that conducted the investigation.
Ohio Administrative Code rule 5101:2-33-21, Confidentiality and Dissemination of Child Welfare Information, allows an individual, private, or public agency to request a search of the SACWIS registry and receive information about the status of an individual's name on the Ohio SACWIS Registry.
The Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (“department”) maintains an Abuser Registry (“registry”), which is a list of employees who the department has determined have committed one of the registry offenses listed below. The developmental disabilities (DD) employees that may be placed on the registry include: department employees, county board of developmental disabilities employees, independent providers under Ohio Revised Code (R.C.) section 5123.16, an employee providing specialized services to an individual with a developmental disability, including an entity licensed or certified by the department.
Since other state agencies require employers to check the registry, placement may prohibit:
- Being employed by a Medicaid agency, being an owner (five percent or more) of an agency or having a Medicaid Provider Agreement as a non-agency provider.
- Being in a position to provide Ombudsman services or direct care services to anyone enrolled in a program administered by the Ohio Department of Aging.
- Being employed by a home health agency, a nursing home, or residential care facility in a direct care position.
Registry Offenses
- Physical Abuse - the use of any physical force that could reasonably be expected to result in physical harm.
- Sexual Abuse - unlawful sexual conduct (unprivileged intercourse or other sexual penetration) and unlawful sexual contact (unprivileged touching of another’s erogenous zone).
- Verbal Abuse - purposely using words to threaten, coerce, intimidate, harass, or humiliate an individual.
- Prohibited Sexual Relations- Consensual touching of an erogenous zone for sexual gratification and the individual is in the employee’s care and the individual is not the employee’s spouse.
- Neglect - when there is a duty to do so, failing to provide an individual with any treatment, care, goods, or services necessary to maintain the health or safety of the individual.
- Misappropriation (Theft) - obtaining the property of an individual or individuals, without consent, with a combined value of at least $100. Theft of the individual’s prescribed medication, check, credit card, ATM card and the like of any monetary value are also registry offenses.
- Failure to Report Abuse, Neglect, or Misappropriation - the employee unreasonably does not report abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of the property of a person with developmental disabilities, or the substantial risk to such an individual of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation, when the employee should know that their non-reporting will result in a substantial risk of harm to such individual.
