Marin Advocates for Children

Direct Evidence:

		Eyewitness observations of a parent’s abusive or neglectful behavior
		Child’s description of being abused or neglected
		Parent’s description of abusive or neglectful behavior
		Accounts of child maltreatment from a spouse or other family members
		Films, photographs, or other visual material depicting a minor’s sexually explicit activity
		Newborns who are denied nutrition, life sustaining care, or other medically indicated treatment
		Children in physically dangerous situations
		Young children who are left alone
		Apparently abandoned children
		Parent’s demonstrated disabilities (for example, mental illness or retardation or alcohol or drug abuse) that are severe enough to make child abuse or child neglect likely
		Parent’s demonstrated inability to care for a newborn baby

Circumstantial Evidence:

		“Suspicious” injuries that suggest physical abuse
		Physical injuries or medical findings that suggest sexual abuse
		For young children, signs of sexual activity
		Signs of severe physical deprivation on the child’s body that suggest general neglect
		Severe dirt and disorder in the home that suggest general neglect
		Apparently untreated physical injuries, illnesses, or impairments that suggest medical neglect
		“Accidental” injuries that suggest gross inattention to the child’s need for safety
		Parent’s apparent indifference to a child’s severe psychological or developmental problems
		Chronic and unexplained absences from school for which the parent is apparently responsible
		A newborn who shows signs of fetal exposure to drugs or alcohol

Recognizing Child Abuse: A Guide for the Concerned – by Douglas J. Besharov

Marin County Child Protective Services' Hot Line is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: 415.499.7153

Reports to the Police
When should a report to the police, rather than Child Protective Services, be made?

		When someone other than a parent has abused the child
		When the child protective agency cannot be reached (such as at night or on weekends and holidays) and an immediate response is needed*
		When speed is essential and the proximity of the police to the child gives the police faster access than the child protective agency
		When assistance is needed to protect a child from injury (usually by gaining access to a home or by placing the child in protective custody against the parents' wishes)
		When it appears that the suspected perpetrator should be arrested (usually, only in serious cases when there is reason to believe that he or she may flee)
		When assistance is needed to protect the person reporting or otherwise to maintain order (for example, when the parent becomes belligerent or physically threatening.)
		When assistance is needed to preserve evidence
	The foregoing factors are not the same as those used by the police to decide whether to make an arrest or to begin criminal prosecution -- decisions that the person who is reporting does not make. Recognizing Child Abuse – by Douglas J. Besharov