According to the National Children’s Alliance, an estimated 532,228 children were abused and neglected in the U.S. in 2024, their latest statistics. The effects of such treatment is overwhelming and can be long-lasting.
One way in which the law has protected children from this type of maltreatment is to require specific professionals and individuals to report suspected child abuse or neglect to identified state agencies in respective child abuse and neglect state statutes.
The requirement to report is also reinforced in professional practice acts, such as CNA licensing acts and state nurse practice acts.
Although state reporting requirements may vary somewhat, most include the following:
- Define a child/minor as 17 years of age or younger
- Person/professional reporting have a “good faith” or reasonable belief” that abuse or neglect is taking place or has taken place
- Definitions of what constitutes abuse and neglect
- Distinct provisions for the role of the reporter of the abuse or neglect, such as allowing for the temporary “protective custody” of the minor and immunity from a criminal or civil lawsuit if the reporting was in good faith.
In the following case, Abdinasir Farah v. Seattle Children’s Hospital and Amy Tayntor, No. 88366-6-1, Court of Appeals of the State of Washington, July 27, 2026, the Appellate Court evaluated an employee’s good faith reporting of what she suspected was child abuse when the child was seen in her facility.
Facts
A father, whose ethnicity is Somalian, took his eight-year-old autistic daughter to a children’s hospital due to her complaints involving her urinary tract. A physician and a medical assistant saw the father and daughter and asked the father to help with her examination by undressing her and obtaining a urine sample.
The physician and medical assistant left the exam room so the father could carry out their requests.
When the medical assistant returned, she stated (to the physician) she saw the father touching the daughter’s “private area and doing circular motions in like her clitoris area”.
The medical assistant reported the suspected sexual abuse to the state agency where such reports were to be reported.
The next day, the father was arrested and charged with “communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.” However, after about a month and a half later, the father was released from jail after an investigation determined there was insufficient evidence to support the alleged abuse had occurred.
Father Files Lawsuit
The lawsuit named the medical assistant and the hospital as defendants.
As to the medical assistant directly, he alleged that she was negligent in voicing her opinion that he had touched his daughter “inappropriately”. As a result, he continued in his lawsuit, the hospital was vicariously liable for the medical assistant’s conduct in the course of her employment.
The father also filed a direct allegation against the hospital, alleging that it was negligent in the “training of employees in the areas of child abuse reporting, cultural awareness, and patient/parent interactions”.
The medical assistant and the hospital filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit under their state law for reporting child abuse and neglect.
The trial court dismissed the claim against the medical assistant on the grounds that her reporting was protected by the First Amendment of the US and state Constitutions protected activity of petitioning the government and also her reporting was also protected under the state law governing reporting of child abuse and neglect.
The trial court also dismissed the claim against the hospital for vicarious liability due to their dismissal of the claim against the medical assistant.
The trial court did not, however, dismiss the direct claim against the hospital for the negligent training and supervision of the medical assistant as its employee.
The hospital filed a motion for a reconsideration of its decision not to dismiss the claim against the hospital for negligent training and supervision of the medical assistant. It did grant the hospital’s motion to ask the appellate court to determine the following question:
“(w)hether a plaintiff may maintain a negligent training and supervision claim against an employer when (1) the employee acted within the scope of employment, and (2) the employee is absolutely immune from liability under……..[state law] for making a good faith report.”
The review was granted.
Appellate Court Decision
After a review of applicable state cases decided prior to this one and also of state statutes, the Appellate Court, in an unpublished opinion, reversed the trial court’s denial to dismiss the negligent training and supervision claim against the hospital.
Because the trial court dismissed the claim of vicarious liability against the hospital for the medical assistant’s reporting in the scope of her employment, there can be no viable direct claim against the hospital for negligent training and supervision. The two, the Court held, are mutually exclusive.
Moreover, because the medical assistant’s reporting was immune from any liability under the state statute for reporting suspected child abuse and neglect, the state’s case law clearly provides for immunity for an employer when an agent (in this case, an employee) is found immune from liability for a reporting.
The Court also pointed out that the purpose of granting immunity from suit for a good faith reporting is not only encourage professionals to report their concerns but also to protect children from such misconduct.
What This Case Underscores For Your Practice
Even though the Court’s decision was unpublished, it provides guidance for your CNA and nursing practice. Instructions include:
- Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect is YOUR responsibility, both ethically and legally
- Know your mandatory reporting obligations in your state, both in your practice act and in the state statute regulating this reporting
- Follow your employer’s policies and procedures governing reporting
- Do not allow another person (e.g., family member, nurse manager) talk you out of reporting a good faith belief that child abuse or neglect might have occurred
- Document your reporting as required by the state statute governing reporting and your employer’s policies and procedures
- Your only obligation is to report a suspected abuse or neglect, NOT to investigate the situation, as this is the obligation of the state agency to which you report
- Remember that if your reporting is in good faith, immunity from civil or criminal liability protects you, and that your good faith is presumed unless proven otherwise
- Cultural awareness is important in caring for any patient but cannot override a good faith concern that abuse or neglect of a child might have occurred
This information is for educational purposes only and is not to be taken as specific legal or other advice by the reader. Nor does it create an attorney-client relationship. If legal or other advice is needed, the reader is encouraged to seek such information from a nurse attorney, attorney or other professional.
