As children returned to school for the 2024-2025 academic year, one student in Jane’s class caught her attention — and not for good reason. 

“He would sleep a lot,” said Jane, a public school teacher in the Mahoning Valley who 21 News is referring to by a pseudonym. “He would take home food … and then we would notice bruises on places where you don't normally see them.” 

Jane decided to report the child’s case to her county’s Children Services Board (CSB) in October 2024. The case was screened in to the investigative process shortly thereafter, but today, Jane still doesn’t know whether the case is closed or action has been taken. 

Since the report was made, she told 21 News she has felt unheard and out-of-the loop: at times offering evidence and photos she said were dismissed, and at other points asking for updates on the case only to be met with silence. Her experience highlights how laws on confidentiality and parental rights mean people can be left with more questions than answers after they report a case of suspected abuse and neglect. 

When a case is referred to a CSB or other county-level public children services agency (PCSA), it first goes through a screening decision based solely on the information in the referral. If the referrer has not provided enough evidence of abuse or neglect, the case is screened out without investigation. If screened in, the PCSA opens an investigation process to determine whether the alleged abuse or neglect has occurred. 

After her referral was screened in, Jane told 21 News she “never heard anything” about where the investigation stood or whether action was taken, until two months later when she reached out for an update. She learned that the CSB had conducted interviews and the case was still open. 

According to Jane, that was the last update she was able to get from the CSB about the case. The lack of information available to her led her to fear the worst. 

“They don't want to update anything because they don't have anything to update, because they may not be doing anything,” Jane said. “I mean, I don't know.” 

Broadly speaking, reports of child abuse or neglect are considered confidential and PCSAs are prohibited from sharing information with most people. Jodi Norton Trimble, chief communications officer for the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, said this means someone who makes a report is not necessarily entitled to get additional information about it. 

“Protecting children is the number one priority for the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY) and every local public children services agency (PCSA),” Norton Trimble said, but “children services agencies must balance a family’s right to privacy and parental rights with their duty to assess safety and protect children.” 

Fred Wulczyn, director of the Center for State Child Welfare Data, told 21 News policies that prevent PCSAs from sharing information about reports are important for the family and child. 

“[Let’s say] you made certain allegations about my family,” Wulczyn said. “You're in the school. Do you talk about that in the lunchroom? Do you talk about that outside that interaction?” 

That opens “the floodgates to biased treatment, unwarranted treatment, because of something that was suspected but not true — or even if it was true, the fact that yes, it was true, but I've now resolved them in a satisfactory way,” he added. “The allegations linger through that young person's school history.”

However, mandated reporters — such as teachers, including Jane — are entitled to more information than other people under state law. Section 2151.421 of the Ohio Revised Code says mandatory reporters may make a “reasonable number of requests” of a PCSA for information limited to: 

  • Whether the agency has initiated an investigation of the report
  • Whether it is continuing to investigate the report
  • Whether it is otherwise involved with the child who is the subject of the report
  • The general health and safety status of the child who is the subject of the report
  • Whether the report has resulted in the filing of a complaint or charges in court

PCSAs are also required to send notifications to the mandated reporter after a screening decision is made, and after an investigation into a screened-in report has closed or been transferred for ongoing services — the latter of which Jane said she still has not received, so she can only assume the investigation remains open a year later. 

“It's just frustrating, honestly. … We care about these children and we are mandated reporters, and I mean, we get into trouble if we don't do anything, but what about them?” Jane said. “Who has accountability here?”

County-level PCSAs in Ohio are overseen by the DCY. Norton Trimble said the department issues rules and policy guidance; monitors compliance with state and federal law; provides technical assistance on some investigations, case planning and placement decisions; and conducts audits, quality assurance reviews and program monitoring to identify room for improvement. 

When community members have concerns about the way a case is handled, she said there are several avenues for action, which include filing a formal complaint with the agency, calling the state’s help line at (866) 886-3537 and contacting the county board of commissioners for broader concerns. 

“While these systems don't eliminate all risks, they are designed to provide multiple checks and avenues for intervention,” Norton Trimble said. “Continued support for child welfare staff — including addressing caseloads and systemic resource challenges — is critical to ensuring these structures function effectively.” 

Jane’s notes show she made additional referrals about the same student to her county’s CSB in March 2025, roughly five months after the original case was opened. Within two weeks, the notes show she received a letter saying her subsequent reports were screened out, but not saying why.

“They'll say, ‘Here's a list of reasons it could be,’ but they don't tell you the specific reason,” she said. 

While PCSAs are required to notify mandated reporters of a screening decision no more than seven days after the decision is made, they don’t have to specify a reason for the decision under state law. 

In Mahoning and Trumbull counties, more than 68% of child abuse and neglect referrals from 2020 to 2024 were screened out of the investigative process, according to data from the DCY published online by the Ohio Bureau of Data Analytics and Surveillance. This isn’t uncommon — according to Norton Trimble, most referrals to PCSAs do not result in a full investigation. 

Norton Trimble said this is a result of the state’s “see something, say something” approach that encourages members of the public to report. 

“Protecting the safety of Ohio’s children is everyone's responsibility. We cast a wide net with this ask,” Norton Trimble said. “While this often results in reports that are screened out, we believe it is worth it to ensure that the agencies have the information they need to make the best possible determination when it comes to suspected child abuse or neglect.”

Norton Trimble said many counties use a team approach to screening and have a supervisor make the final decision. She described the process as “one of many difficult but important tasks” carried out by PCSAs. According to Wulczyn, it may be the most difficult.  

“For the screening calls, you have to make a very big decision with almost no information,” Wulczyn said. “The quality of the information is directly correlated with the quantity of information.”

It’s most challenging with cases “in the middle, where ambiguity is high — not complexity, ambiguity,” he said. “‘I don't know exactly what's going on, I need more information,’ but you don't have time to collect.”

Just as the state doesn’t want to risk dismissing a case where abuse is happening, it also doesn’t want to take action against a family where abuse has not occurred, Wulczyn said. Parental rights also come into play: Scott Britton, assistant director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, told 21 News state and federal law protects parents, to an extent, from outsiders who disagree with their child-rearing methods. 

“Our agencies also work to educate mandated reporters and the community in general as to what constitutes abuse and neglect under Ohio law,” Britton wrote in an email. “Many people do not understand that parents have a constitutional right to raise their children as they see fit (not as others see fit), until abuse or neglect triggers the government interest to intervene.”

In Wulczyn’s view, the best answer to reducing those ambiguous, high-stakes decisions is to “reduce the circumstances that give rise to all this abuse and neglect” — namely, poverty.

“How about good schools, good daycare?” Wulczyn said. “How about, you know, affordable groceries?” 

“When you are a poor family in a poor area, money is not the only thing you lack,” he added. “You lack enough time to get everything done,” and community resources to support a child’s emotional and physical safety. 

Wulczyn said while the system is imperfect and has room for growth, “there are many parts that are working well enough for where we are today.” 

But for Jane, the same doesn’t ring true. The child she reported to her CSB is no longer in her school, so she doesn’t know how he is doing. At this point, she can only hope the agency will do something, or that it already has. 

“I'm not saying anybody in particular is at fault, but the way it's set up is just not working, because kids are slipping through the cracks,” Jane said.