Are your volunteers mandated reporters?

Names anyone in an official supervisory capacity at a nonprofit or for-profit organization — paid or unpaid — who has reasonable cause to believe a child was abused or neglected by an employee, contractor or volunteer they regularly supervise who coaches, trains, educates or counsels children or regularly has unsupervised access to them. Also names guardians ad litem, including court-appointed special advocates, for what they learn representing children, and any volunteer in the state family and children’s ombuds office. Reports are due at the first opportunity and no later than 48 hours.

Names athletic coaches, directors and other persons 18 or older employed by or volunteering with a public or private sports organization or team, or with a public or private elementary or secondary school’s athletics program, including interscholastic teams and clubs (added in 2026 by 2026 Acts cc. 585, 845). We found no mention of Scout leaders in the statute. Also names any person 18 or older associated with an organization responsible for the care, custody or control of children, and anyone 18 or older who has completed DSS-approved reporter training.

Names employees and volunteers of a domestic abuse shelter, and employees and volunteers of a child advocacy organization or child welfare service provider. Since July 1, 2026, the list also names a coach of a school activity (2026 H.B. 1187); the statute does not say whether the coach must be paid. Reports must be made orally and immediately to the state’s attorney, the Department of Social Services or law enforcement; intentional failure to report is a Class 1 misdemeanor, and any other person may report (SDCL 26-8A-3, 26-8A-8).

Names any employee, coach or volunteer of an entity that provides organized activities for children, and youth camp administrators and counselors. A mandated reporter who is a staff member or volunteer of an institution, school, organized-activities entity, facility or agency must also immediately notify the person in charge, which does not replace the personal duty. Reports go to the Department of Human Services immediately and no later than 24 hours, with an immediate report to the State Police and any law-enforcement agency with jurisdiction as well when the reporter believes the child suffered serious physical abuse or sexual abuse or sexual assault; the section does not apply to anyone under 18, and any other person may report (W. Va. Code § 49-2-803(a), (c), (d)).

Names any individual, paid or unpaid, who is an integral part of a regularly scheduled program, activity or service and is responsible for a child’s welfare or has direct contact with children.

Names school volunteers over 18 who interact with pupils outside the immediate supervision and control of a parent or school employee (since Jan. 1, 2026), and employees and volunteers of Court Appointed Special Advocate programs; other volunteers who work directly with children are encouraged, but not required, to report.

Names any employee or volunteer in a residential care facility for children licensed, certified or operated by OCFS, and the directors of overnight, summer day and traveling summer day camps. Separately, volunteers at Justice Center–covered facilities are mandated reporters to the Vulnerable Persons’ Central Register.

Names any “volunteer or personnel of a community service program” that helps families in crisis delegate a child’s care and custody by power of attorney, and “jail or detention center personnel,” which Missouri defines to include employees and volunteers working where people are held in custody of the law. The list ends with any “other person with responsibility for the care of children,” a phrase the statute does not define.

Names child service organization personnel — anyone employed by or volunteering at a public or private, for-profit or nonprofit organization that provides care, treatment, education, training, supervision, coaching, counseling, recreational programs or shelter to children — and pregnancy resource center and reproductive health care facility volunteers. Reports must be made immediately and no later than 24 hours; a volunteer at a hospital, school, social agency or similar facility who notifies the person in charge or a designated delegate is deemed to have fully complied.

Names a volunteer non-attorney guardian ad litem serving the South Carolina Guardian ad Litem Program or Richland County CASA. Anyone the list does not reach may report and is encouraged to (§ 63-7-310(A), (D)); the list also names a “childcare worker in a childcare center or foster care facility” without saying whether unpaid helpers count.

Names anyone who provides or assists in teaching, training or supervising a child in a voluntary or professional capacity; court-appointed special advocate (CASA) volunteers; and administrators, employees or volunteers of any day camp, summer camp, youth center, youth recreation program or other organization that provides organized activities for children. Clergy must report too, except for a confidential communication their church requires them to keep, and must then encourage the person to report. Reports are due immediately (Ch.C. arts. 603, 610).

Names court appointed special advocates, who by statute are persons in a CASA Volunteer Program appointed by the court, and says a listed official’s duty is personal “regardless of whether the official is employed by, a volunteer of” an organization and applies whatever the organization’s internal reporting policy. Other volunteers have the duty when they also hold a listed role, such as school employee, clergy or certified foster care provider; the youth group, scout and camp category names employees, and coaches are named only if compensated. Reports must be made immediately (ORS 419B.005(6)(c), (h), (L), (q), (bb), (cc); 419B.010(1), (3), (4); 419A.004(11)).

Names court-appointed special advocates — who under Wis. Stat. § 48.236(2) must be volunteers or employees of a CASA program — for children they see in CASA activities (§ 48.981(2)(b)). No other volunteer role is named; clergy must report suspected abuse, with a confession exception, and any other person may report (§ 48.981(2)(bm), (2)(c)). DCF licensing rules separately require volunteers at group child care centers and licensed day camps to report (DCF 251.04(8), 252.07(3)(a)).

Names any person who serves as a volunteer at a public or private school, any person who is employed by or serves as a volunteer for a youth shelter, and any person who serves as a volunteer for an agency or service that advises people about child abuse or neglect and refers them for help; clergy are named except for what they learn from the offender in confession. Before anyone volunteers at a school, the school must tell them about the duty in writing or electronically and keep a written or electronic acknowledgment. Reports are due as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 24 hours (NRS 432B.220(1), (4)(d), (e), (j), (k), (9)).

Names any person employed by or who works as a volunteer for any organization, whether for profit or not-for-profit, that provides social services to pregnant teenagers, including counseling, adoption services and pregnancy education and maintenance. Also names teachers, school administrators and other school employees, Kansas State High School Activities Association board members, officers and employees, and licensed child care providers and their employees; any other person may report. Reports are due promptly, and willful and knowing failure to report is a class B misdemeanor (K.S.A. 38-2223(a)(1)(C), (D), (F), (a)(2), (e)(1)).

Names, when acting in a professional capacity, a youth camp administrator or counselor and a court-appointed special advocate or guardian ad litem for the child; Maine’s CASA program is made up of volunteer lay persons (4 M.R.S. § 1501). Also names child care personnel, any person who has assumed full, intermittent or occasional responsibility for the care or custody of a child, and anyone affiliated with a church or religious institution who serves in an administrative capacity or has assumed a position of trust or responsibility to its members, the last two regardless of whether the person receives compensation. The list does not name coaches or Scout leaders. Reports are due immediately; a reporter on the staff of an institution, agency or facility notifies the person in charge or a designated agent, who makes the report, and must report directly if written confirmation does not arrive within 24 hours. Mandated reporters must complete DHHS-approved training at least once every 4 years, and anyone else may report (22 M.R.S. § 4011-A(1)(A)(14), (16), (21), (1)(B), (1)(C), (3), (9)).

Names domestic violence shelter volunteers, court-appointed special advocate program volunteers, victim assistance volunteers, volunteers at a reproductive healthcare facility, and anyone 21 or older who volunteers in a public or private school as a coach or director of an athletic or nonathletic organization, team or club. Since Act 727 of 2023 it also names any person 18 or older who observes abuse, sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child. Reports go to the Child Abuse Hotline immediately; an employer or supervisor may not stop a volunteer from reporting or require permission first, good-faith reporters are immune, and the hotline no longer takes anonymous reports (Ark. Code §§ 12-18-402(a)–(d), 12-18-303(e)(1)).

Names volunteers who interact with children in a public or private school for more than four hours a week, and public and private school athletic coaches, which includes a volunteer leader or assistant of a sports team who volunteers more than four hours a week; an unpaid volunteer coach must report only after volunteering more than four hours a week for four consecutive weeks or 20 hours a week in a one-month period, completing the state reporter training and signing an acknowledgment form. Domestic violence, sexual assault, crisis and substance-treatment program staff are named only if paid, and child care providers only if they care for children for compensation or reimbursement. Reports go to the Department of Family and Community Services immediately and no later than 24 hours, and also to law enforcement when a sex offense is suspected; telling a supervisor does not satisfy the duty, failure to report is a class A misdemeanor, and any other person may report (AS 47.17.020(a)(2), (6), (7), (9), (b), (g), (j); 47.17.290(1), (4), (7); 47.17.068).

Names a guardian ad litem or a court-appointed advocate who is authorized to investigate a report of alleged abuse or neglect; Montana defines a special advocate as a trained volunteer appointed as an officer of the court, though SB 464 (2025) recast that advocate’s duty as an independent review rather than an investigation, so confirm whether CASAs count. Also names clergy, except for a confidential confession made without consent to disclose, or a communication canon law, church doctrine or established church practice requires to be kept confidential, operators and employees of licensed or registered day-care and substitute care facilities, and foster care, residential and institutional workers. School teachers, officials and employees who work during regular school hours are named; school volunteers are not. Reports go to the Department of Public Health and Human Services promptly, and any other person may report (Mont. Code Ann. §§ 41-3-102(35), 41-3-201(1), (2)(d)–(f), (h), (i), (4), (6)).

Names camp owners, camp administrators and camp counselors, and defines “camp” to include any residential or nonresidential recreational program; the statute does not say whether a counselor must be paid. Also names child care workers, clergy (except for confessional communications that religious law requires to be kept confidential) and employees, contractors and grantees of the Agency of Human Services who have contact with clients, but school staff only if employed by a school or contracted and paid to provide student services, so unpaid school volunteers are not named. Reports are due within 24 hours, and anyone else may report (33 V.S.A. § 4913(a)(2), (3), (7), (9)–(12), (b), (c), (e), (j)). Separately, volunteers who directly provide health care, law enforcement, caregiving, counseling, education or social services to adults must report suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation of a vulnerable adult within two business days (33 V.S.A. § 6903(a)).

Are volunteers mandated reporters?

In roughly 18 states, yes — those states require any person who suspects child abuse or neglect to report, regardless of profession, so a volunteer is covered no matter what role they hold. In the other states the statute names occupations instead, and whether a volunteer is covered depends on whether that list reaches what they actually do. Several states name volunteer roles explicitly: Washington names the paid or unpaid supervisors of staff and volunteers who coach, train, educate or counsel children or regularly have unsupervised access, plus CASA/GAL and ombuds-office volunteers; Virginia names adult coaches and other volunteers with public or private sports organizations or teams and, since 2026, school athletics programs; it does not name Scout leaders.

What is a universal mandated reporting state?

One where the duty to report attaches to every person rather than to a list of professions. Five states — Delaware, Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina and Wyoming — require all persons to report without naming any professions at all (Delaware since a 2023 amendment). Thirteen more name professionals and then also require any person to report.

If my state only names professions, can my volunteers ignore this?

No, and this is the most important thing on the page. In every state, territory and the District of Columbia, ANY person is permitted to report suspected abuse even when they are not required to. A volunteer who is not a mandated reporter can still call, and should. The legal question is about the duty; the moral and practical one is not in doubt.

Can a volunteer discharge the duty by telling a supervisor?

Usually not. In most states the reporting duty is personal to the individual who forms the suspicion, and passing it up the chain does not satisfy it. Some states additionally impose an institutional duty on the organization. Write your policy so that internal escalation happens ALONGSIDE the external report, never instead of it.

Does running a background check affect this?

Not at all, and conflating them is a common mistake. Screening is about who you let near children. Reporting is about what happens when someone already in your program sees something. A clear background check creates no reporting duty and satisfies none — they are separate obligations that happen to share a policy binder.

How current is this?

The universal-reporting list is enumerated in the Child Welfare Information Gateway's state-statute compilation, which states that it is current only through May 2023. Mandated reporter statutes are amended frequently — several states have expanded coverage since. Treat this as a map of the landscape and confirm your own state's current statute before you write policy or train anyone.