A new state law banning anonymous reports of child abuse has been hailed by family law attorneys and child welfare advocates as a win for kids and Fourth Amendment rights that will decrease fake calls to abuse hotlines that result in unnecessary, invasive home searches.
As longtime family law attorneys like Dale Margolin Cecka know all too well, anonymous abuse reports are rampant, harmful and frequently inaccurate. Federal data shows 96% of anonymous child abuse reports across the country end up being unsubstantiated and data from the New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services shows that only 6.7% of the city’s 2,211 anonymous reports in 2023 actually resulted in Child Protective Services finding a case of child abuse happening, significantly fewer than the 23.5% that were substantiated from all other reports. However, over 1,700 of those reports resulted in a CPS investigation into a child’s life, home or school.
