Chapter 8
Reporting child abuse
Many children don’t report the abuse they are experiencing. There are many different reasons for this. But the law says that people must report child abuse and it is a criminal offence not to report in these circumstances. This law is in terms of the Children’s Act.
The Children’s Act says any doctor, nurse, teacher or person managing a children’s home or place of care, must report any suspicion of child abuse in the prescribed form to a designated child protection organisation, the provincial department of social development or a police official.