How we work
How we track state law
Our state-by-state record of clergy and mandated-reporter law is built to be checked. Every claim traces to an official source, and the whole record is reviewed and kept current. Here is how.
Research
We research each state's law across independent sources, anchored to primary government records: statutes, bills, and court decisions.
Verify
Every statute, bill, and case is traced back to its official source and reviewed by our team before it goes on the site.
Publish
Each state page passes our data checks and is published with the date it was last reviewed.
Keep current
A weekly scan of state legislatures flags new and changed bills for review, so the record stays up to date.
Where the record comes from
A few of the sources behind every state page. Primary government records come first; everything else is used to corroborate them.
State government
- State legislature sites (bills and statutes)
- State attorney-general offices
- State court and appellate opinions
- State child-welfare agencies
Child-welfare authorities
- HHS Children's Bureau
- Child Welfare Information Gateway (childwelfare.gov)
Bill tracking
- OpenStates powers our weekly scan for new and changed bills
Legal references
- Justia and official court-opinion databases, used to corroborate primary sources
Every state page carries the date it was last reviewed. That date updates whenever we edit the page or when the weekly scan brings in a change.