Dawne Mitchell, Chief Attorney of the Juvenile Rights Practice at The Legal Aid Society, and Melissa Friedman, Attorney in Charge of Legal Strategy and Training at Legal Aid’s Juvenile Rights Practice, have authored a new op-ed for The Imprint in support of the Anti-Harassment in Reporting Bill.

This bill would end the state’s practice of accepting anonymous complaints of child maltreatment and replace it with a system of confidential reporting.

“The practice of anonymous reporting is rife with abuse and is a primary driver in overreporting and over-investigation of children. Currently, anyone can make a report of suspected abuse or neglect to the Statewide Central Register (SCR) without identifying themself,” they write in part. “As a result, it is regularly misused by parents’ ex-partners, landlords, and neighbors, among others, for the purpose of harassment.”

“The Anti-Harassment in Reporting bill would protect children by establishing confidential rather than anonymous reporting,” they continue. “That information would be shared only with the investigator or during discovery in a court case if an investigation were substantiated and an abuse or neglect case were filed.”

Read the full piece here.