Report Child Abuse

What is child abuse? Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. There are many forms of child maltreatment, including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and emotional abuse.

Read through the sections below on the different types of child abuse to learn the signs. If you see these signs in anyone you know, or are a victim of child abuse, get help right away from the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline.

Physical Abuse

• Throwing, kicking, burning, biting, or cutting a child
• Striking a child with a closed fist
• Shaking a child under age 3
• Striking or other actions that result in any nonaccidental injury to a child under age 18 months
• Unreasonable interference with a child’s breathing
• Threatening a child with a weapon
• Striking a child under age 1 on the face or head
• Striking a child who is at least age 1 but under age 4 on the face or head, which results in an injury
• Purposely giving a child poison, alcohol, or dangerous, harmful, or controlled substances that were not prescribed for the child by a practitioner to control or punish the child; giving the child substances that substantially affect the child’s behavior, motor coordination, or judgment or that result in sickness or internal injury; or subjecting the child to medical procedures that would be unnecessary if the child were not exposed to the substances
• Unreasonable physical confinement or restraint not permitted by law, including, but not limited to, tying, caging, or chaining
• In a school facility or school zone, an act by a person responsible for the child’s care that is a violation under § 121A.58 (prohibiting corporal punishment)

Sexual Abuse

• Criminal sexual conduct
• Solicitation of children to engage in sexual conduct
• Communication of sexually explicit materials to children
• Any act involving a child that constitutes a violation of prostitution offenses
• Child sex trafficking
• Threatened sexual abuse, which includes the status of a parent or household member who has committed a violation that requires registration as a predatory offender

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse occurs when a parent or caregiver harms a child’s mental and social development, or causes severe emotional harm, it is considered emotional abuse. While a single incident may be abuse, most often emotional abuse is a pattern of behavior that causes damage over time.10.6% of adults report being emotionally abused as a child. ‘Emotional maltreatment’ means the consistent, deliberate infliction of mental harm on a child by a person responsible for the child’s care that has an observable, sustained, and adverse effect on the child’s physical, mental, or emotional development.

Child Neglect

• Failure by a person responsible for a child’s care to supply a child with necessary food, clothing, shelter, health, medical, or other care required for the child’s physical or mental health when reasonably able to do so
• Failure to protect a child from conditions or actions that seriously endanger the child’s physical or mental health when reasonably able to do so, including a growth delay (which may be referred to as failure to thrive) that has been diagnosed by a physician and is due to parental neglect
• Failure to provide necessary supervision or child care arrangements appropriate for a child after considering such factors as the child’s age, mental ability, physical condition, length of absence, or environment when the child is unable to care for their own basic needs or safety or the basic needs or safety of another child in their care
• Failure to ensure that the child is educated as required by State law, which does not include a parent’s refusal to provide their child with sympathomimetic medications
• Prenatal exposure to a controlled substance used by the mother for a nonmedical purpose, as evidenced by withdrawal symptoms in the child at birth, results of a toxicology test performed on the mother at delivery or the child at birth, or medical effects or developmental delays during the child’s first year of life that medically indicate prenatal exposure to a controlled substance, or the presence of a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
• ‘Medical neglect’ that includes, but is not limited to, withholding medically indicated treatment from a disabled infant with a life-threatening condition
• Chronic and severe use of alcohol or a controlled substance by a parent or person responsible for the care of the child that adversely affects the child’s basic needs and safety

How to Report Child Abuse

In Minnesota

Contact the county or reservation where the child lives

In Minnesota, each county and tribe in Minnesota has its own phone number for reporting child abuse and neglect. Below are the contact number and links for each county you are reporting the abuse in. If you would prefer to use the search button, it is also below for your convenience.

To report concerns about child abuse, neglect or sexual abuse, contact the county or reservation where the child lives during business hours. If the child is in immediate risk of harm, please contact your local law enforcement agency or dial 911. For concerns about the state’s child protection system, not related to an individual concern, call the Minnesota Department of Human Services at 651-431-4661.

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Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
Mille Lacs Family Services
320-630-2444

Minnesota Department of Education
Student Maltreatment Program
651-582-8546 (reporting line)
651-797-1601 (fax)
mde.student-maltreatment@state.mn.us

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Pine County Human Services
800-450-7463 or 320-629-5728 (Intake worker)

Prairie Island Indian Community
Prairie Island Child and Family Services
651-385-4124

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Red Lake Nation
Red Lake Family and Children Services
218-679-2122

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Upper Sioux Indian Community
Upper Sioux Community Social Services
320-564-3853

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Washington Community Services
651-430-6457 or 651-291-6795 (after hours and on weekends)

White Earth Nation
White Earth Indian Child Welfare
218-983-4647

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In Other States

Call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-422-4453.

The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) is dedicated to the prevention of child abuse. Serving the United States, its territories, and Canada, the hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with professional crisis counselors who, through interpreters, can provide assistance in over 170 languages. The hotline offers crisis intervention, information, literature, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are confidential.

The hotline has received more than 2 million calls since it began in 1982. These calls come from children at risk for abuse, distressed parents seeking crisis intervention and concerned individuals who suspect that child abuse may be occurring. The hotline is also a valuable resource for those who are mandated by law to report suspected abuse, such as school personnel, medical and mental health professionals and police and fire investigators.

What to expect when calling the hotline: (If this is an emergency, call 911.)

When calling 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453), a qualified crisis counselor will answer and assist you, if you:

• Need help and want to talk to a counselor.
• Are in physical or emotional crisis and need support and encouragement.
• Need to be connected to the best possible resources in your area.
• Have questions about the signs of child abuse.
• Need to find out how to report known or suspected abuse.
• Have questions about the reporting process and what you might expect through the process.
• Want to learn about Childhelp programs that will address you or your child’s needs.
• Want to learn about resources available to parents, grandparents and caregivers.
• Need emotional support as a survivor of abuse.
• Want a referral to an agency, counseling or other services near where you live.
• Want literature mailed to you. (Allow two weeks for delivery via the U.S. Postal Service.)
• Want information on how to make a donation to Childhelp.
• Childhelp crisis counselors cannot come to the home where the abuse is happening and take away the child or teen who is in danger of being hurt and put them in a new home.
• The Childhelp Hotline crisis counselors can’t make the child abuse report for you, but we are here to help you through it.

Childhelp counselors can assist you by providing options based on the situation you describe. They cannot tell you what to do or guarantee that a specific outcome will occur.