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Who is a Mandated Reporter?

A Mandated Reporter is any person who has assumed full or intermittent responsibility for the care or custody of an elder/dependent adult, whether or not he/she receives compensation, including administrators, supervisors, and any licensed staff of a public or private facility that provides care or services for elder/dependent adults, or any elder/dependent adult care custodian, health practitioner, clergy member, or employee of a county adult protective services agency or a local law enforcement agency (WIC 15630[a]).

Additionally, all officers and employees of financial institutions are mandated reporters of suspected financial abuse of an elder/dependent adult (WIC 15630.1[a]).

What is the penalty for non-reporting of suspected abuse by a Mandated Reporter?

Failure to report, or impeding or inhibiting a mandated report of physical abuse, abandonment, abduction, isolation, or neglect of an elder/dependent adult, is a misdemeanor that is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to six months, or a fine of up to $1,000, or both.  If the mandated reporter willfully fails to report, or impedes or inhibits a report of abuse and the abuse results in the victim’s death or great bodily injury, the reporter may be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year or a fine of up to $5,000, or both (WIC 15630[h]).

Failure to report financial abuse is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or if the failure to report is willful, a fine up to $5,000 (WIC 15630.1[f]).

Mandated reporters include:

  • Ministers
  • Priests
  • Rabbis
  • Religious practitioners, or
  • Similar functionaries of a church, synagogue temple, mosque, or any other recognized religious denomination or organization

(WIC 15610.19)

Administrators or employees of any of the following public or private entities, or anyone providing care or services for elders/dependent adults, including members of the support/maintenance staff:

  • Twenty-four hour healthcare facilities
  • Clinics
  • Home health agencies
  • Agencies providing publicly funded in-home supportive services, nutrition services, or other home and community based support services
  • Community based adult services (previously known as adult day health care centers)
  • Secondary schools that serve 18 to 22 year old dependent adults and postsecondary educational institutions that serve elders/dependent adults
  • Independent living centers
  • Camps
  • Alzheimer’s disease day care resource centers
  • Community care facilities and residential care facilities for the elderly
  • Respite care facilities
  • Foster homes
  • Vocational rehabilitation facilities and work activity centers
  • Designated area agencies on aging
  • Regional centers for persons with developmental disabilities
  • State Department of Social Services and State Department of Health Services licensing divisions
  • County welfare departments
  • Office of patients’ right advocates and clients’ rights advocates, including attorneys
  • The Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman
  • Offices of public conservators, public guardians, and court investigators
  • Any protection or advocacy agency or other entity that is designated by the Governor to fulfill the requirements and assurances of the following:
    • The federal Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 for protection and advocacy of the rights of persons with developmental disabilities
    • The Protection and Advocacy for the Mentally III Individuals Act of 1986 for the protection and advocacy of the rights of persons with mental illness
  • Humane societies and animal control agencies
  • Fire departments
  • Offices of environmental health and building code enforcement
  • Any other protective, public, sectarian, mental health, private assistance/advocacy agency, or person providing health/social services to elders/dependent adults

(WIC 15610.17)

  • Employees of a county welfare department, except employees who do not work directly with elders/dependent adults as part of their official duties
  • City police
  • County sheriff’s
  • Probation department

This does not include employees who do not work directly with elders/dependent adults as part of their official duties.

  • Physicians and surgeons, licensed/unlicensed residents, and interns
  • Nursing home administrators, nurse’s aides, orderlies, and anyone else paid for providing care in a nursing home
  • Psychologist and psychological assistants
  • Licensed professional clinical counselors
  • Dentists and dental hygienists
  • Medical examiners
  • Psychiatrists
  • Coroners
  • Pharmacists
  • Social workers
  • Physical/occupational therapists
  • Registered and licensed vocational nurses
  • Marriage, family, and child counselors and interns
  • Osteopaths, optometrists, chiropractors, and podiatrists
  • Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics
  • Any state or county public health/social service employee who treats an elder/dependent adult for any condition

(WIC 15610.37)

Financial Institutions include:

  • A depository Institution
  • An institution-affiliated party
  • A federal credit union or state credit union

(WIC 15630.1[b] [1-3])