Delaware
16 Del. C. §§ 901–914 — Delaware Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act
- Clergy named as mandatory reporter?
- No
- Confessional exemption?
- Yes
- Statute
- 16 Del. C. §§ 901–914
- Clergy named
- All-person
- Pending
- —
Delaware's mandatory-reporting law covers every person in the state. Under 16 Del. C. § 903(a), anyone who knows or has good-faith suspicion of child abuse or neglect, including human trafficking of a child, must report to the Division of Family Services. No exceptions based on profession, relationship, or role. Then § 909 creates one: the priest-penitent privilege survives, but only for communications made in a sacramental confession. Attorney-client privilege survives too. Every other recognized privilege is abrogated. In 2023, the Delaware House took up HB 74, a bill that would have removed the sacramental-confession carveout and left only attorney-client. The bill gathered ten co-sponsors and was referred to House Judiciary. It never received a committee vote, and the 152nd General Assembly adjourned sine die on June 30, 2024, without acting on it. The bill has not been reintroduced in the current session. Delaware also carries § 914, a civil penalty regime with real financial stakes: up to $10,000 for a first failure to report, up to $50,000 for any subsequent violation. That enforcement mechanism is only as strong as the reporting duty it enforces. Where the sacramental-confession carveout applies, there is nothing to enforce. Reform that closes the carveout would give Delaware's penalty structure something to work with. That is the kind of change UCO is working to support in states across the country.