What needs to change in Tennessee.

• All-person duty under § 37-1-403(a)(1) — clergy covered by default, not by enumeration

  Tennessee Code § 37-1-403(a)(1) requires any person who has knowledge of, or is called upon to render aid to, a child suffering harm that reasonably indicates brutality, abuse, or neglect to report immediately to the Department of Children's Services or law enforcement. The statute names no professional category. Clergy are covered by the all-person formulation — not because the legislature singled them out, but because no one is excluded. Tennessee DCS confirms this posture on its official FAQ: 'Everyone in Tennessee is a mandated reporter.' The penalty for failure to report is a Class A misdemeanor.

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• Clergy-penitent privilege conspicuously omitted from § 37-1-411 abrogation

  TCA § 37-1-411 (Evidentiary Privileges Not Applicable to Child Abuse Cases) abrogates the husband-wife privilege (§ 24-1-201), the psychiatrist-patient privilege (§ 24-1-207), and the psychologist-patient privilege (§ 63-11-213) in any dependency-and-neglect proceeding resulting from a report under § 37-1-403 or in a criminal prosecution for severe child abuse. The clergy-penitent privilege at § 24-1-206 is conspicuously absent from that list. The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts' official evidence-rules rendering confirms the three abrogated privileges and the omission of § 24-1-206. The result: for a clergy member who learns of non-sexual child abuse or neglect during a pastoral communication protected by § 24-1-206, Tennessee statute is silent on whether the privilege excuses the report — neither expressly preserving nor expressly overriding it.

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• AG Opinion 01-009 narrows privilege abrogation to sexual-abuse cases only

  Tennessee Attorney General Opinion No. 01-009 (January 25, 2001) construed the interaction between the clergy-penitent privilege at TCA § 24-1-206 and Tennessee's child-abuse reporting regime. The AG concluded that the privilege does not apply to any communication involving known or suspected child sexual abuse — relying on the § 37-1-614 abrogation, which removes all privileges except attorney-client in child sexual abuse situations. Critically, the opinion does not reach the general reporting duty in § 37-1-403, and Tennessee has produced no subsequent AG opinion or controlling appellate decision extending that abrogation to non-sexual child abuse, physical abuse, or neglect reports. Combined with the legislative omission in § 37-1-411, this leaves a documented gap: clergy must report suspected child sexual abuse without invoking the privilege, but the statute provides no equivalent clarity for a clergyperson who learns through a pastoral communication that a child is being physically abused or neglected.

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• Neither the 113th nor the 114th General Assembly introduced a bill addressing the clergy-reporting silence

  A review of Tennessee's 114th General Assembly (2025-2026) surfaces several measures touching TCA Title 37, Chapter 1, including a bill expanding the child-abuse definition to cover witnessing abuse and another extending DCS investigation timelines, but none of them touch § 37-1-411, § 37-1-614, § 24-1-206, the clergy-penitent privilege, or clergy as mandatory reporters. The Tennessee General Assembly's official bills-by-subject index for the 113th General Assembly (2023-2024) lists every bill filed under the Child Abuse subject heading; none of those bills address § 37-1-411, § 24-1-206, the clergy-penitent privilege, or clergy mandatory reporting. This unbroken legislative inaction, combined with the unresolved statutory gap, is what places Tennessee in the action-needed urgency tier rather than recent-attempt or active-push.

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• HHS Children's Bureau cross-state synthesis confirms the all-person / silent posture

  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children's Bureau's clergy-mandatory-reporters brief lists Tennessee as a state where 'any person who suspects child abuse or neglect is required to report,' covering clergy by default rather than by enumeration. The same federal summary classifies Tennessee as one of the jurisdictions where the clergy-penitent privilege is abrogated only in cases of suspected child sexual abuse — not in the broader child abuse and neglect reporting regime under § 37-1-403. This authoritative cross-state synthesis reinforces the all-person coverage classification and the silence-for-non-sexual-abuse posture.

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What it takes to close the gap.

How Tennessee got here.

• 1973
  TCA § 37-1-403 enacted

  Tennessee's original child-abuse reporting statute (Acts 1973, ch. 81) establishes the all-person reporting duty. The all-person formulation has remained intact through subsequent amendments.

• 2001-01
  AG Opinion 01-009 narrows privilege abrogation to sexual-abuse cases

  Tennessee Attorney General Opinion No. 01-009 (January 25, 2001) concludes that the clergy-penitent privilege under § 24-1-206 does not apply to communications involving known or suspected child sexual abuse under § 37-1-614. The opinion does not address the general § 37-1-403 duty for non-sexual abuse or neglect, leaving that intersection unresolved.

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• 2023
  HHS Children's Bureau confirms all-person / silent posture

  The federal Child Welfare Information Gateway brief classifies Tennessee as all-person coverage with privilege abrogated only for sexual abuse — the recognized national characterization of Tennessee's statutory scheme.

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• 2025-2026
  114th General Assembly: no clergy-reporting or privilege bills

  Tennessee's 114th General Assembly (2025–2026) includes no legislation addressing § 37-1-411, § 24-1-206, or clergy mandatory reporting for non-sexual abuse. The silence continues.

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Litigation shaping the law.

• Tennessee AG Opinion No. 01-009

  Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. No. 01-009 (Jan. 25, 2001)·2001

  The Tennessee Attorney General construed the interaction between the clergy-penitent privilege at TCA § 24-1-206 and the child-abuse reporting regime. The AG concluded that the privilege does not apply to communications involving known or suspected child sexual abuse, based on the § 37-1-614 abrogation. The opinion does not address the general § 37-1-403 reporting duty for non-sexual abuse or neglect, leaving that intersection unresolved. This is the most authoritative gloss on the scope of the clergy privilege in the Tennessee reporting context; the absence of a limiting appellate decision or a follow-on AG opinion is itself load-bearing evidence of the reform gap.

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Public-record sources UCO is tracking.

Always verify against the underlying statute or filing before quoting.

• Justia US Law (mirror of Tennessee Code Annotated)· 2024
  Tennessee Code § 37-1-403 — Reporting of brutality, abuse, neglect or child sexual abuse

  Justia's rendering of the current text of TCA § 37-1-403. Subsection (a)(1) imposes the reporting duty on any person who has knowledge of, or is called upon to render aid to, a child suffering harm reasonably indicating brutality, abuse, or neglect — the all-person formulation that covers clergy without enumerating them. Subsection (a)(3) routes suspected child sexual abuse to the separate reporting regime at § 37-1-605. Reconciled as the principal statute source per controller determination (Justia section-specific URL beats LexisNexis landing page on the URL tier hierarchy).

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• Tennessee Attorney General· January 25, 2001
  Tennessee Attorney General Opinion No. 01-009 — Clergy-Penitent Privilege

  AG opinion construing the clergy-penitent privilege under TCA § 24-1-206 in the context of child-abuse reporting. Concludes the privilege does not apply to communications involving known or suspected child sexual abuse under § 37-1-614; does not address the general § 37-1-403 duty for non-sexual abuse or neglect. Most authoritative gloss on the scope of the privilege in the Tennessee reporting context.

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• Tennessee Department of Children's Services (tn.gov/dcs)
  Frequently Asked Questions — Reporting Abuse

  DCS official guidance confirming that 'Everyone in Tennessee is a mandated reporter' under TCA § 37-1-403(a)(1). Confirms the all-person formulation and the Class A misdemeanor penalty for failure to report. Does not address clergy or the clergy-penitent privilege, consistent with the statutory silence.

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• Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (tncourts.gov)
  Rule 501: Privileges Recognized Only as Provided — privileges relevant to child abuse reporting

  Official state-court rendering of privilege rules and statutory abrogations that interact with child-abuse reporting. Reproduces TCA § 37-1-411 (abrogating husband-wife, psychiatrist-patient, and psychologist-patient privileges — conspicuously omitting § 24-1-206 clergy-penitent), TCA § 37-1-614 (abrogating all privileges except attorney-client for child sexual abuse cases), and TCA § 24-1-206 (the clergy-penitent privilege itself). Single best primary source for the § 37-1-411 omission that defines the silent posture.

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• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau / Child Welfare Information Gateway· 2023
  Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect

  HHS Children's Bureau state-statutes-series brief. Lists Tennessee as a state where any person who suspects child abuse or neglect is required to report, and as one of the jurisdictions where the clergy-penitent privilege is abrogated only in cases of suspected child sexual abuse — not in the broader § 37-1-403 regime. Authoritative federal cross-state synthesis confirming the all-person + silent classification.

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• Child Welfare Information Gateway· April 2019
  Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect — Tennessee

  Child Welfare Information Gateway Tennessee-specific brief identifying the clergy-reporting rule under §§ 37-1-403(a) and 37-1-605(a), quoting the any-person reporting language, and summarizing the privileged-communications framework under §§ 24-1-206 and 37-1-614. Corroborates the all-person coverage and the sexual-abuse privilege override.

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• LegiScan· 2025
  Tennessee 114th General Assembly — 2025 Legislation

  Bill tracker for the Tennessee 114th General Assembly (2025-2026). Review confirms no legislation addressing § 37-1-411, § 24-1-206, the clergy-penitent privilege, or clergy as mandatory reporters for non-sexual abuse in the current session. Referenced for the legislative-inaction finding.

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• Tennessee General Assembly (wapp.capitol.tn.gov)· 2023-2024
  Tennessee 113th General Assembly — Bills Filed Under Child Abuse Subject

  Official Tennessee General Assembly bills-by-subject index listing every bill filed under the Child Abuse subject category in the 113th General Assembly (2023-2024). None of the bills listed address § 37-1-411, § 24-1-206, the clergy-penitent privilege, or clergy as mandatory reporters. Corroborates the legislative-inaction finding for the 113th GA session.

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• Tennessee General Assembly (wapp.capitol.tn.gov)· 2025
  Tennessee HB1360, 114th General Assembly (2025-2026), child-abuse definition (witnessing)

  Enacted bill (chaptered May 13, 2025) expanding the child-abuse definition to include a minor witnessing abuse of another child or domestic abuse of a household member. Confirms the 114th GA bill described in legalNotes[3]; companion SB1241. Neither bill touches § 37-1-411, § 24-1-206, or clergy mandatory reporting.

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• Tennessee Department of Children's Services (CARAT)· 2024
  Tennessee Code § 37-1-403, amendment history (CARAT official PDF)

  Official TN DCS CARAT rendering of TCA § 37-1-403 including amendment-history compiler notes; credits the original enactment to Acts 1973, ch. 81, § 1, confirming the session-law chapter cited in timeline[0].

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