Great information contained here. I didn't read every single word of every single link, but did skim them. I did read GA very carefully, though, and from what I read it is exactly how I remember the guidelines we went by in the state I taught in many years ago. The mandated reporter is required to make the report to the person in charge of the facility in which the child is being schooled or cared for. The person with whom that report is filed, however, MAY go on to pass that report or NOT. I only brought this up today so as to help clear up this fact. Just because authorities were not reported to, does not mean that a teacher did not report suspicions of abuse. A teacher may have but it may have stopped on someone else's desk.
The situation I found myself in would have ended on my superior's desk just like that. In fact, I was told that if I "wanted to make myself feel better" to go ahead and write the report. He told me point blank that he would file it in "the circular file". This situation was a family with a prior abuse citation on a different child and we are talking about visible physical abuse in both cases. So, I wrote that report (in the days where email did not exist yet) and put that report on his desk with a big yellow post it that said "The original copy of this report has been sent to your superior."
My purpose with posting this is to clarify that being a mandated reporter may not always be what most people perceive it to be.
