You Report? Everyone Reports? 
Mandated Reporting Obligations 
When a Survivor Has a Disability 

Ashley Brompton, J.D., Program Associate 
Sandra Harrell, Associate Director 
Center on Victimization and Safety 
Vera Institute of Justice 

October 17, 2017 



Goals of the Webinar 

Participants will be better able to: 

• 
Explain the history and rationale behind mandatory 
reporting requirements. 
• 
Define the relationship between privacy, 
confidentiality, and mandatory reporting for adults 
with disabilities. 
• 
Develop policies and practices to address 
mandatory reporting that minimize any unintended 
consequences to victims with disabilities and 
promote both autonomy and safety. 

The Development of Mandatory 
Reporting of Abuse of People with 
Disabilities 



Setting the Stage 

• 
Every state in the US has enacted laws that require 
certain professionals or others to report incidents of 
abuse of people with disabilities – referred to as 
“vulnerable adults” or “dependent adults.” 
• 
These are often laws that are distinct from other 
mandatory reporting requirements for older people, 
children, etc. (but not always). 
• 
Every state’s laws are different! 

History of Mandatory Reporting 

• 
Began exclusively for adults who are aged 60 or older 
• 
A handful of horrific cases of abuse of people with disabilities living in 
institutional settings were identified through media exposes 
• 
One example, was Geraldo Rivera’s 1972 expose’ on Willowbrook State School 
in Staten Island, New York 
• 
Led to dozens of lawsuits being filed in the 1970s regarding the abusive 
conditions in the nation’s institutions 
• 
Three significant cases 
• 
New York State Association for Retarded Citizens et.al. v. Carey et.al. 706 F.2d 956 
(dealing with the Willowbrook Developmental Center, in Staten Island, New York) 
• 
Wyatt v. Stickney, 325 F.Supp. 781 (dealing with three Alabama state institutions for 
people with mental illness and developmental disabilities: Bryce Hospital, Searcy 
Hospital, and Partlow State School and Hospital) 
• 
Welsch v. Likins, 550 F.2d 1122 and Jensen v. Minnesota Department of Human 
Services, Civil No. 09-1775 (D.C. Minn. 2013) (dealing with the Cambridge facility in 
Cambridge, Minnesota) 

History of Mandatory Reporting, 
continued 

• 
These lawsuits led to a recognition of the constitutional rights 
of people with disabilities living in institutional settings to 
protection and treatment. 
• 
Prompted mandatory reporting legislation to include people 
with disabilities. 
• 
Unlike legislation for elder abuse, there is no clear line of 
demarcation for adults with disabilities (definition). 
• 
Results in wide-ranging state laws and expansive definitions of 
who is included in mandated reporting. 
• 
Leads to variations in how the laws are interpreted and 
applied from organization to organization and individual to 
individual. 

The Tensions Within Mandatory 
Reporting: Safety Versus 
Autonomy 



What Mandated Reporting is 
Supposed to Do 

• 
Promote early identification of vulnerable adults 
• 
Break isolation 
• 
Provide victims with information about safety planning, legal 
and community services 
• 
Provide victims with local/state advocacy services 
• 
Provide a ‘continuum of care’ for victims in coordination with 
other agencies and enhances effectiveness of interventions 
• 
Create documentation of the maltreatment that may be 
critical to criminal or civil legal action 

A Question for the Audience 

In your experience, is this what is happening 
when you report? 



Common Challenges of Mandatory 
Reporting 

• 
People with disabilities say: 
• 
They want to reach out for help 
• 
They are afraid of what happens if a report is made 
• 
Negative stories travel through the grapevine 
• 
If a report is made, people with disabilities: 
• 
Want the report to go to as few people as possible 
• 
Expect action 
• 
Want to know the outcome of a report 

Common Challenges, continued 

• 
Mandatory reporting often conflicts with core values 
that shape victims services… 
• 
Being able to narrate your own experience and have control 
over who hears your story is fundamental to healing 
• 
Victims of abuse know their abuser and how the abuser will 
react to a report and they may be choosing not to report as a 
strategy for safety 
• 
Certain types of crimes involve dynamics that make straight 
forward interventions dangerous 

Common Challenges, continued 

• 
Mandatory reporters often don’t know the legal requirements 
• 
They often don’t understand their responsibilities 
• 
They don’t know who is subject to mandatory reporting 
• 
They don’t know whether they are mandatory reporters 
• 
They don’t know who to report to 
• 
Legal definition of “vulnerable” may be too broad to account for the range of 
competency that providers observe 
• 
Can undermine the basis for the organization’s supports for people with 
disabilities 
• 
Internal protocols may determine what gets reported outside of the agency 
• 
When reports are made… 
• 
Reports are made independent of the survivor 
• 
Providers want to know the outcome of the report but don’t know how to 
get that information 

Mandatory Reporting in the Context 
of Domestic Violence 

• 
Often, there are dynamics at play that make reporting 
dangerous for survivors – coercive power and control. 
• 
A pattern of behavior used by a person that is used to control 
and dominate the person’s partner. 
• 
Coercive control refers to abuse as a “strategic course of 
oppressive behavior,” meaning that battering is: 
• 
rational, instrumental behavior and not a loss of control 
• 
“ongoing” rather than episodic 
• 
based on multiple tactics 

The Power and Control Wheel 



Mandatory Reporting in the Context 
of Domestic Violence 

• 
Tactics of coercive power and control can intensify 
following a report. 
• 
When the behavior of an abuser is questioned, 
criticized, and potentially investigated, then this 
can create a dangerous environment for the 
victim/survivor. 
• 
Alienation of the victim. 

Mandatory Reporting in the Context 
of Sexual Violence 

• 
All trauma informed practices restore the ability to 
make decisions to the survivor of sexual assault as a 
way for the person to heal. 
• 
Taking this decision-making ability away takes away 
an important avenue for healing. 

Unintended Consequences 



Balancing Safety with Legal 
Requirements 



Mandatory Reporting is a Reality... The 
Goal is to Do It Safely 

• 
Why? 
• 
There is a historical impulse to do internal 
investigations and keep issues in the 
administrative systems rather than legal or criminal 
justice systems. 
• 
There is a desire to protect people with disabilities 
that is reflected in policies. 
• 
The goal should be to ensure that necessary reports 
are made with safety and autonomy in mind. 

Disclose Reporting Requirements 

• 
Before anything, tell the survivor that you are a 
mandatory reporter – clearly explain what that 
means 
• 
A survivor with a disability might need: 
• 
Info on the process in writing 
• 
A pictorial guide 
• 
Repeated explanations 
• 
Use of smart (simple) language or plain language 
• 
An ASL interpreter 

Stay Survivor Centered 

• 
Service providers should always be survivor 
centered, even when they have to make a 
mandatory report 
• 
Once you inform the survivor that you are a 
mandatory reporter, allow the survivor to decide 
whether he or she wants to: 
• 
Disclose anyway & give informed consent 
• 
Not disclose 
• 
Try to find another person to disclose to who is not 
a mandatory reporter (consideration: does your 
organization have employees who are not 
mandatory reporters? If so, who?) 

Stay Survivor Centered, 
continued 

• 
Provide option of making the report themselves or 
co-reporting with the agency staff 
• 
Provide follow-up support & safety planning 

Best Practices for Mandated 
Reporting 

• 
Determine who is a mandatory reporter in your 
agency. 
• 
Identify the type of abuse that triggers a report. 
• 
Identify the type of disability a person must have 
to trigger a report. 
• 
Determine who the staff person must report 
allegations of abuse to, both inside and outside 
the agency. 

Best Practices, continued 

• 
Collect data 
• 
Number of internal reports of domestic and/or sexual 
violence made to supervisors or other agency staff named in 
the agency’s mandatory reporting policy 
• 
Educate your agency’s staff on mandatory reporting 
requirements 
• 
Engage Adult Protective Services or other regulatory agency 
• 
Have a written policies and procedures around mandatory 
reporting and how mandatory reports are made 
• 
Inform the people who use your services about mandatory 
reporting requirements of agency employees! 

Develop Policies That Reflect Best 
Practices 



Questions or Comments? 



Thank you! 

Please take a moment to complete our online 
survey about this webinar. 

Please don’t forget to tune into the next End 
Abuse of People with Disabilities webinar, 
“One Size Does Not Fit All: Serving Culturally 
Diverse Survivors with Disabilities” on 
November 14, 2017 at 2 pm ET. Click here to 
register.