Report Suspected Child Abuse or Neglect
If you think someone is in danger of being hurt, call 911 immediately!
Report child abuse to a local office of the Department of Human Services (DHS) or a local police department, county sheriff, county juvenile department or state police.
If you need to report suspected abuse or neglect in Multnomah county, please call the 24/7 child abuse hotline:
Local: 503-731-3100
Toll free: 800-509-5439
OR call the statewide hotline 1-855-503-SAFE (7233)
This number will allow you to report abuse or neglect to any child or adult to the Oregon Department of Human Services.
When you call the number the DHS worker will ask you to share the specific details about why you think a child may be in danger of abuse or has been abused. Please remember that they need as much information as possible to best determine the next course of action. In some cases your report may not be enough to investigate, but may be a second or third report that now warrants enough information for investigation. Remember, your responsibility is to the child you are trying to protect, and community members are often the only ones outside the immediate family that may see abuse or neglect of young children, especially infants and toddlers. Always take all stories of abuse from children seriously and report it.
For more information on helping to prevent child abuse, please click the link to Department of Human Services. http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/CHILDREN/CHILD-ABUSE/Pages/index.aspx
Did you know?…
- In 2013 10,630 children were victims of child abuse and neglect in Oregon
- Family members account for 94 percent of all alleged abusers
- Children of every age are abused and neglected in Oregon, but the group that is in most danger of being abused are children under the age of 1, making up over 12 percent of all children abused
- All public employees, educators, pharmacists, counselors, and emergency response teams are all mandatory reporters
- There is a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week hotline that you can call if you suspect any abuse or neglect is occurring? (See above for numbers)
- You should report any reasonable suspicion of abuse; you do not have to prove it.
- In most cases, DHS believes the best way to protect a child is by strengthening the parents’ ability to care for children. DHS offers a number of services to families, and help families to use resources of relatives, friends, and local community.
For more information about the role of a mandatory reporter and who is defined as a mandatory reporter, such as all early childhood educators, please consider attending one of our 2 hour Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect (RRCAN) classes or take the free online course coming soon. http://campus.educadium.com/OCCD?
The RRCAN class is a required class for all early childhood educators, including in-home programs, certified child care center staff, and anyone accepting ERDC subsidy from DHS.