Reporting child abuse is a scary prospect for many, but think about how scared the abused child feels.

You may wonder if you should get involved, but if you were a helpless child, wouldn’t you want a concerned adult to get involved?

Maybe you are not sure if it is really abuse. It is best to make the report so the professionals can investigate.

Perhaps you think it won’t help or that it may make the situation worse, but why not take that chance to help a child? A phone call could change a child’s life.

The truth of the matter is, that children cannot protect themselves from abuse or neglect, and they need help, no matter how scary or difficult it may be, the abused child needs adults to be brave, to take some action, to do what we can and they can’t, to help stop the abuse.

Info about abuse and neglect: THE LAW
The Texas Law is very specific:

§261.101. Persons Required to Report: Time to Report, the Texas Family Code, states:

• A person having cause to believe that a child’s physical or mental health or welfare has been adversely affected by abuse or neglect by any person shall immediately make a report.
• If a professional has cause to believe that a child has been or may be abused or neglected, the professional shall make a report not later than the 48th hour after the professional first suspects that the child has been or may be abused or neglected. A professional may not delegate to or rely on another person to make the report. In this subsection “professional” means an individual who is licensed or certified by the state or who is an employee of a facility licensed, certified, or operated by the state and who, in the normal course of official duties or duties for which a license or certification is required, has direct contact with children. The term includes teachers, nurses, doctors, day-care employees, juvenile probation officers, and juvenile detention or correctional officers.
• The requirement to report under this section applies without exception to an individual whose personal communications may otherwise be privileged, including clergy, a medical practitioner, a social worker, a mental health professional, and an employee of a clinic or health care facility that provides reproductive services.
• The identity of an individual making a report under this chapter is confidential and may be disclosed only on the order of a court or to a law enforcement officer for the purposes of conducting a criminal investigation of the report.
  

§261.106 Immunities, states:

• A person acting in good faith who reports or assists in the investigation of a report of alleged child abuse or neglect or who testifies or otherwise participates in a judicial proceeding arising from a report, petition, or investigation of alleged child abuse or neglect is immune from civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed.
• Immunity from civil and criminal liability extends to an authorized volunteer of the department or a law enforcement officer who participates at the request of the department in an investigation of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect or in an action arising from an investigation if the person was acting in good faith and in the scope of the person's responsibilities.
• A person who reports the person’s own abuse or neglect of a child or who acts in bad faith or with malicious purpose in reporting alleged child abuse or neglect is not immune from civil or criminal liability.
  

§ 261.106 Failure to Report: Penalty, states:

• A person commits an offense if the person has cause to believe that a child’s physical or mental health or welfare has been or may be adversely affected by abuse or neglect and knowingly fails to report as provided in this chapter.
• An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
  

Texas Law also defines what is legally considered as child abuse. These definitions are as follows:

§261.001 Definitions:

• "Abuse" includes the following acts or omission by a person:
  • mental or emotional injury to a child that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning
  • causing or permitting the child to be in a situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning
  • physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessor conservator that does not expose the child to a substantial risk of harm
  • failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child;
  • sexual conduct harmful to a child’s mental, emotional, or physical welfare;
  • failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent sexual conduct as defined by §43.01, Penal Code; or
  • causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting photograph, film or depiction of the child is obscene as defined by §43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic.
• "Department" means the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
• "Designated agency" means the agency designated by the court as responsible for the protection of children.
• "Neglect" includes:
  • the leaving of a child in a situation where the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of physical or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child, and the demonstration of an intent not to return by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the child;
  • the following acts or omissions by a person:
  • placing a child in or failing to remove a child from a situation that a reasonable person would realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child’s level of maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that results in bodily injury or a substantial risk of immediate harm to the child;
  • failing to seek, obtain, or follow through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in or presenting a substantial risk of death, disfigurement, or bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of the child;
  • the failure to provide a child with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by financial inability unless relief services had been offered and refused; or
  • placing a child in or failing to remove the child from a situation in which the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of sexual conduct harmful to the child; or
  • the failure by the person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to return to the child’s home without arranging for the necessary care for the child after the child has been absent from the home for any reason, including having been in residential placement or having run away.
• "Person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare" means a person who traditionally is responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare, including:
  • a parent, guardian, managing or possessory conservator, or foster parent of the child;
  • a member of the child’s family or household as defined by Chapter 71;
  • a person with whom the child’s parent cohabits;
  • school personnel or a volunteer at the child’s school; or
  • personnel or a volunteer at a public or private child-care facility that provides services for the child or at a public or private residential institution or facility where the child resides
• "Report" means a report that alleged or suspected abuse or neglect of a child has occurred or may occur.