Kansas committee hears bill to bar anonymous child-abuse reports to DCF; law-enforcement exception and data questions remain

The Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care held a Feb. 4 bill hearing on House Bill 2589, which would prohibit the secretary for children and families from accepting anonymous reports of child abuse or neglect and require reporters to provide identifying information before DCF records or assigns a report.

Proponents, including bill co-authors Representative Dave Bueller and Representative Tim Johnson, said the measure is intended to curb what they called the "weaponization" of anonymous complaints that can spread through schools, courts and other mandated reporters and cause financial and emotional harm. "There is no recourse today for an individual who has suffered harm by an anonymous unsubstantiated report," Bueller said, describing constituents who he said lost custody or faced financial ruin after such allegations.

The bill would amend the mandatory-reporting statute (KSA 38-22-23) to require reporters to provide their source of information, name, telephone…