Since 1965, Connecticut has had a statute designed “to require the reporting of suspected child abuse or neglect” to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) by certain individuals who care for or interact with children (described as “mandated reporters”). Teachers have been mandated reporters since 1967. Under the current version of the law, a mandated reporter “shall [make a] report” when he or she has “reasonable cause to suspect or believe” that a child under the age of 18 has suffered abuse, which is defined to include “a condition that is the result of maltreatment, including, but not limited to … sexual molestation or exploitation … emotional maltreatment or cruel punishment.”
It is now abundantly clear that before 2010, Choate Rosemary Hall did not make any reports to DCF regarding adult sexual misconduct that went back as far as the 1960s. It made one such report in 2010, and in July and December 2016, the school filed a number of reports with DCF, based on information that had been available to the school for years. DCF responded to the 2016 reports by stating that they had not been accepted for DCF response. DCF did however report the allegations to law enforcement.
