What needs to change in Connecticut.

• Clergy expressly enumerated at § 17a-101(b)(18)

  Conn. Gen. Stat. § 17a-101(b) enumerates the categories of mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect. Subdivision (18) lists **a member of the clergy**. Section 17a-101a applies the reasonable-cause reporting duty to any mandated reporter acting in the ordinary course of employment or profession. The principal statute sits in Chapter 319a of the General Statutes.

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• DCF treats clergy as mandated reporters with no exemption

  The Connecticut Department of Children and Families publishes the operative mandated-reporter list and identifies member of the clergy at item 18. DCF's public guidance does not recognize any clergy-specific privilege exemption and directs all reports to the DCF Careline or law enforcement when a mandated reporter has reasonable cause to suspect abuse, neglect, or imminent risk of serious harm to a child under 18.

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• Report timing and contents under §§ 17a-101b through 17a-101d

  Section 17a-101b requires an oral or electronic report as soon as practicable and not later than twelve hours after the mandated reporter has reasonable cause. Section 17a-101c requires a written or electronic follow-up report within forty-eight hours. Section 17a-101d lists the contents required in the written report when known.

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• Reporting statute is silent on clergy-penitent privilege

  Connecticut's reporting sections at §§ 17a-101 through 17a-101d contain no clause addressing whether information obtained in a clergy-penitent communication is exempt from the mandatory reporting duty. The U.S. Children's Bureau places Connecticut in a three-state group whose reporting laws do not address the issue of privileged communications, alongside Mississippi and New Jersey. The silence is structural: the reporting statute neither preserves nor overrides any clergy privilege on its own face.

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• A separate evidentiary clergy privilege lives in the evidence chapter

  Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-146b, in Chapter 899 (Evidence), recognizes a clergy-communications privilege in certain proceedings unless waived by the communicant. The privilege sits in the evidence chapter and is not written as an exemption or override clause inside the Chapter 319a reporting sections. Whether the evidentiary privilege quietly relieves the affirmative reporting duty is the unresolved structural question.

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• 1994 OLR analysis of HB 5738 (failed privilege-carveout amendment)

  OLR Report 94-R-0135 (March 15, 1994) analyzed Connecticut HB 5738, a Judiciary Committee bill that would have added the phrase 'unless otherwise privileged' to the front of the mandatory abuse-reporting statute. The bill's stated purpose was 'to clarify that confidential communications to clergymen are privileged.' OLR flagged drafting problems with the broad formulation: as written it would reach any profession holding a privilege, including physicians, psychologists, and certified marital and family therapists, not just clergy. OLR also noted that the bill left 'privileged communication' undefined and that the General Assembly would have to decide which privileges, if any, applied in the reporting context. HB 5738 was not enacted, and the current reporting statute still carries no such privilege clause. The episode is direct legislative-history evidence that Connecticut's silent privilege posture reflects an unresolved 1994 proposal aimed at clergy reporting, not an affirmative protective choice by the General Assembly.

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• Federal child-welfare guidance confirms both halves of the posture

  The U.S. Children's Bureau state summary for Connecticut confirms that members of the clergy are required to report under § 17a-101(b) and separately confirms that the question of privileged communications for clergy is not addressed within the reporting statute. The combination supports a silent privilege posture rather than an express preservation or express override.

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What it takes to close the gap.

How Connecticut got here.

• 1965
  Original mandated-reporter statute enacted

  Connecticut's original mandated-reporter statute is enacted (P.A. 65-260, February Special Session), beginning the line that becomes Conn. Gen. Stat. § 17a-101. The Office of Legislative Research traces continuous amendments forward from this enactment.

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• 1996
  Chapter 319a restructured into §§ 17a-101 through 17a-101d

  Public Act 96-246 reorganizes the reporting regime into §§ 17a-101 through 17a-101d. Subsequent acts continue to expand the enumerated categories of mandated reporters; the operative enumeration the current statute carries forward includes a member of the clergy.

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• 2023
  Federal guidance documents the silent-privilege posture

  The U.S. Children's Bureau groups Connecticut with Mississippi and New Jersey as states whose reporting laws do not address privileged communications, and separately confirms that Connecticut expressly enumerates clergy at § 17a-101(b).

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• 2025
  DCF current public guidance reaffirms clergy as mandated reporters

  The Connecticut Department of Children and Families publishes its current mandated-reporters guidance identifying member of the clergy at item 18, with no acknowledged privilege exemption.

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Public-record sources UCO is tracking.

Always verify against the underlying statute or filing before quoting.

• Connecticut General Assembly
  Chapter 319a — Child Welfare (current revision)

  Canonical state-legislature publication of Chapter 319a, containing Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 17a-101 through 17a-101o. Section 17a-101(b) enumerates the mandated reporters, with subdivision (18) listing a member of the clergy. Section 17a-101a sets the reasonable-cause reporting trigger; §§ 17a-101b through 17a-101d govern timing and contents. The reporting sections contain no clergy-penitent privilege clause.

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• Justia US Law· 2024
  Conn. Gen. Stat. § 17a-101 (2024) — Protection of children from abuse. Mandated reporters

  Media-neutral mirror of the principal statute, included for cross-validation against the General Assembly text. Confirms subsection (b) lists member of the clergy among the enumerated mandated reporters.

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• Connecticut Department of Children and Families· January 24, 2025
  Child Abuse Mandated Reporters

  Official DCF guidance identifying member of the clergy at item 18 in the operative mandated-reporter list and confirming the reasonable-cause reporting duty for any mandated reporter acting in the ordinary course of employment. DCF guidance does not recognize a clergy privilege exemption.

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• Child Welfare Information Gateway, U.S. HHS Children's Bureau· May 2023
  Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect (State Statutes Series)

  Federal state-statute summary classifying Connecticut among states that expressly enumerate clergy as mandated reporters, with operative cite to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 17a-101(b). Authoritative secondary source for the statusBucket classification.

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• Child Welfare Information Gateway, U.S. HHS Children's Bureau· May 2023
  Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect (State Statutes Series)

  Companion HHS Children's Bureau summary. Places Connecticut in a three-state group, alongside Mississippi and New Jersey, whose reporting laws do not address the issue of privileged communications. Authoritative secondary source for the silent privilegePosture classification.

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• Child Welfare Information Gateway· May 2023
  Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect — Connecticut

  Per-state federal summary confirming that Connecticut requires members of the clergy to report under § 17a-101(b) and that the issue of privileged communications for clergy is not addressed in the reporting statute.

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• Connecticut General Assembly
  Chapter 899 — Evidence

  Official evidence chapter containing Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-146b, the separate clergy-communications privilege in certain proceedings. The privilege sits in the evidence chapter and is not written into the Chapter 319a reporting sections as an exemption or override.

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• Connecticut General Assembly, Office of Legislative Research· June 24, 2010
  OLR Research Report 2010-R-0270 — Selected Mandated Reporter Laws

  OLR legislative-research report tracing Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 17a-101, 17a-103, and 17a-106 from the 1965 enactment forward, including the 1996 reorganization (P.A. 96-246) that broke the original statute into §§ 17a-101 through 17a-101d.

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• Connecticut General Assembly, Office of Legislative Research· March 15, 1994
  OLR Research Report 94-R-0135: Child Abuse Reporting Requirement for Clergymen

  OLR analysis of HB 5738, a 1994 Judiciary Committee bill that would have added 'unless otherwise privileged' to the front of the § 17a-101 reporting duty. OLR flagged that the broad language would reach physicians, psychologists, and certified marital and family therapists beyond clergy, and that the bill left 'privileged communication' undefined. The bill was not enacted; the reporting statute remains silent on clergy-penitent privilege. The clearest legislative-history evidence that Connecticut's silent posture is the product of an unresolved proposal, not an affirmative choice.

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• Victim Rights Law Center· 2020
  Clergy Privacy FAQs: Connecticut

  Practitioner FAQ quoting Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-146b and separately summarizing child-abuse reporting under § 17a-101a, noting that Connecticut's enumerated mandated reporters include a member of the clergy under § 17a-101(b)(18).

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