Report Suspected Child Abuse to Department of Human Services
Video Transcribed: Do you have to report suspected child abuse? Yeah. I’m the Tulsa father’s rights lawyer and this is going to be a brief video on reporting child abuse.
Every person must promptly report any suspected child abuse as immediately as possible to the Department of Human Services.
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services will assess and conduct a safety analysis. At this time, they will either investigate the reports or not do so as unsubstantiated.
The Court has the authority to order access to the child, and that would allow for examination to determine whether or not child abuse or neglect had occurred.
Any report of child abuse or neglect perpetrated by an adult who is not the parent of the child will be automatically referred to local law enforcement for purposes of criminal investigation.
Once the Oklahoma Department of Human Services is done with their investigation, they will issue a report. And those reports will have, line for line accounting for every interaction that those DHS investigators had during the course of that investigation.
If the Oklahoma Department of Human Services believes that child abuse or neglect is substantiated, then they will refer it to the local district attorney’s office for, either, criminal filing or the starting of deprived proceeding.
Listen, it’s pretty simple. Here in Oklahoma, if you think you have something to report, report it to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Thanks again for watching. I hope that was helpful.
