New Hampshire

RSA 169-C:29 — New Hampshire Child Protection Act — mandatory reporting

Clergy named as mandatory reporter?: Yes
Confessional exemption?: No

Statute: RSA 169-C:29
Clergy named: Expressly
Pending: —

New Hampshire's Child Protection Act names clergy directly and then removes the shield most states leave standing. RSA 169-C:29 expressly lists priest, minister, and rabbi alongside physicians, teachers, social workers, and law enforcement as mandated reporters, and then sweeps every remaining person into the duty with the phrase 'any other person having reason to suspect that a child has been abused or neglected.' RSA 169-C:32 closes the privilege door. It abrogates the privileged quality of any professional communication (the single exception is attorney-client) in proceedings under the Child Protection Act. There is no carveout for clergy-penitent communications. New Hampshire stands in a small group of states that have both named clergy as mandated reporters and denied the clergy-penitent privilege in child-abuse cases. The 1979 statute and the 2013 Willis decision together did, in one state, what UCO is asking every state to do. The standard exists; the rest of the country is the project.

Section 01What needs to change

What needs to change in New Hampshire.

RSA 169-C:32 abrogates all professional privilege except attorney-client
The privilege-abrogation provision at RSA 169-C:32 reads that the privileged quality of communication between husband and wife and between any professional person and his patient or client — except that between attorney and client — shall not apply to proceedings instituted pursuant to this chapter and shall not constitute grounds for failure to report. The attorney-client exception is the only carveout written into the statute. Clergy fall squarely within 'any professional person,' and the 1979 statutory text has never been amended to add a religious exemption. Federal HHS summarizes the result as privilege denied: New Hampshire is among a small group of states that both enumerate clergy as mandated reporters and deny the clergy-penitent privilege in child-abuse cases.
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General clergy-penitent privilege at RSA 516:35 exists but does not survive RSA 169-C:32 in child-abuse proceedings
New Hampshire recognizes a standalone religious-leader privilege at RSA 516:35, which protects confession or confidence made to clergy in their professional character as spiritual adviser unless waived. The existence of that privilege makes the RSA 169-C:32 override concrete rather than merely implicit: the legislature had a specific privilege to abrogate and did so. State v. Willis (2013) confirmed the abrogation's reach — the New Hampshire Supreme Court held that because NH law provides any statement to a clergyperson useful to establishing child abuse is not protected by the privilege, a communicant cannot have an objectively reasonable expectation that such a statement will remain confidential.
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Knowing violation of the reporting duty is a misdemeanor under RSA 169-C:39
RSA 169-C:39 makes any person who knowingly violates the mandatory-reporting subdivision guilty of a misdemeanor. The criminal penalty applies to clergy alongside every other enumerated and universal-reporter category. New Hampshire's combination — express enumeration, privilege override, and a criminal-penalty provision — reflects the full package UCO tracks in model states.
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Section 02What's needed

What it takes to close the gap.

Section 03How you can help

Concrete ways to support reform in New Hampshire.

Donate

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Donations fund the national work of pressing every state toward the standard New Hampshire set — clergy named, privilege overridden, no carveout.

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Section 04Timeline

How New Hampshire got here.

1979
RSA 169-C enacted; clergy named, privilege abrogated
New Hampshire's Child Protection Act takes effect August 22, 1979. RSA 169-C:29 expressly names priest, minister, and rabbi as mandated reporters and adds a universal-reporter sweep. RSA 169-C:32 abrogates all professional privilege except attorney-client as grounds for failure to report.
1984
State v. Howland — immunity scope fixed
NH Supreme Court holds RSA 169-C:31 immunity covers only the act of making a report, not the underlying criminal conduct.
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2013
State v. Willis — privilege override confirmed
NH Supreme Court applies RSA 169-C:32 to a Baptist pastor's disclosure and forecloses the reasonable-expectation-of-confidentiality defense for clergy-penitent communications in child-abuse proceedings.
View source ↗

Section 05Key cases

Litigation shaping the law.

State v. Willis
165 N.H. 206, 75 A.3d 1068 (2013)2013
The New Hampshire Supreme Court applied RSA 169-C:32 to incriminating statements a defendant made to his Baptist pastor and held that the religious privilege codified at RSA 516:35 did not protect them. The court reasoned both on case-specific grounds — the statements were not confessions, third parties were present, and the defendant subsequently waived the privilege — and on a broader holding that because NH law provides any statement to a clergyperson useful to establishing child abuse is not protected by the privilege, a communicant cannot have an objectively reasonable expectation that such a statement will remain confidential. Willis effectively closed off any 'reasonable expectation of confidentiality' workaround that might otherwise let clergy invoke RSA 516:35 against the reporting duty. Decided August 21, 2013.
View source ↗
State v. Howland
125 N.H. 497 (1984)1984
The New Hampshire Supreme Court held that the immunity provision of RSA 169-C:31 extends solely to the act of making a report by persons having reason to suspect child abuse or neglect, and does not immunize the underlying criminal conduct. Howland prevents perpetrators from using a self-report to claim immunity while leaving the substantive reporting duty intact. It is the primary published appellate decision construing the scope of RSA 169-C:31's good-faith immunity clause.
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Section 06Background

Public-record sources UCO is tracking.

Always verify against the underlying statute or filing before quoting.

New Hampshire General Court
RSA 169-C:29 — Persons Required to Report (NH General Court)
Principal statute. Expressly names priest, minister, and rabbi alongside physicians, teachers, social workers, daycare workers, and law enforcement, then sweeps in any other person having reason to suspect child abuse or neglect. The basis for both the expressly-named statusBucket and the universal-reporter scope.
View source ↗
New Hampshire General Court
RSA 169-C:32 — Abrogation of Privileged Communication (NH General Court)
Privilege-abrogation statute. Abrogates professional privilege — except attorney-client — in proceedings under the Child Protection Act and as grounds for failure to report. No clergy-penitent carveout. The basis for the overridden privilegePosture classification.
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New Hampshire General Court
RSA 169-C:39 — Penalty for Violation (NH General Court)
Penalty provision. Knowing violation of the reporting-law subdivision is a misdemeanor. Applies to all mandated reporters including clergy.
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New Hampshire General Court
RSA 516:35 — Religious Leader Privilege (NH General Court)
New Hampshire's standalone clergy-penitent privilege statute. Protects confession or confidence made to clergy in their professional character as spiritual adviser. Its independent existence makes the RSA 169-C:32 override concrete: the legislature had a specific privilege to abrogate and did so.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Child Welfare Information Gateway
Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect — State Statutes Summary
Federal HHS Children's Bureau publication summarizing state-by-state clergy reporting laws. Places New Hampshire in the small group of states that both enumerate clergy as mandated reporters and deny the clergy-penitent privilege in cases of child abuse or neglect. Secondary authoritative cross-reference for both the statusBucket and privilegePosture classifications.
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New Hampshire Judicial Branch
State v. Willis — NH Supreme Court opinion (2013)
Full text of the NH Supreme Court's Willis decision applying RSA 169-C:32 to a Baptist pastor's disclosure of statements made by a defendant. Confirms the abrogation covers clergy-penitent communications and forecloses the reasonable-expectation-of-confidentiality defense.
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John W. King New Hampshire Law Library, NH Judicial Branch
NH Law About... Reporting Child Abuse (NH Judicial Branch Law Library)
State judicial-branch research guide aggregating statutory and case-law authorities for child-abuse reporting in New Hampshire. The source for State v. Howland (1984) citations and holding summaries.
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Other states

Last reviewed May 29, 2026 · by Unheard Child Org research teamHow we track this