mandate all adults in the country to report incidents of child abuse

Each year in this country 6 million children are involved in allegations of child abuse. More than 5 children die at the hands of an abuser every day. Professions known as the helping professions are mandated by law to report abuse, or in some states, suspicion of abuse. However, for others adults, there is no such law compelling them to report child abuse even when they are sure of it. While it is our hope that any adult would report mistreatment of children to the proper authorities, recent high profile incidents have proven that not to be the case. We propose that there be a national law compelling any person over the age of 18 to report known or reasonably suspected abuse of children to his state's child abuse hotline, the police, or local child welfare agencies.