• To follow up on a report of suspected child abuse, please contact the children and youth agency in which the suspected abuse occurred; ChildLine is not permitted to provide this information.
• Adding information to an existing report: 800-932-0313
• Online Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Certification: www.compass.state.pa.us/cwis
• Child Abuse Applications/Results or Federal Criminal History Background Check results: 1-877-371-5422
• General questions related to child abuse, mandated reporting or certifications: RA-PWCPSLQuestions@pa.gov
• Account log-in or other technical issues: 1-877-343-0494
• Appeals: 717-783-1964
• University of Pittsburgh’s online recognizing and reporting child abuse training: 717-795-9048
• Formal complaints regarding a school, not related to suspected child abuse or neglect call: 717-783-6788
• Welfare fraud: 1-844-DHS-TIPS
• Concerns regarding individuals ages 18-59 with disabilities -OR- individuals over age 60: 1-800-490-8505

Protecting Pennsylvania’s children from abuse and neglect is a shared responsibility. It requires collaboration from the formal child protective services system, community partners and our citizens to provide local safety nets for children and families that are facing challenges within our communities and neighborhoods.

Recently, 24 pieces of legislation were enacted, changing how Pennsylvania responds to child abuse. These changes significantly impact the reporting, investigation, assessment, prosecution and judicial handling of child abuse and neglect cases.

These changes:

• Strengthen our ability to better protect children from abuse and neglect by amending the definitions of child abuse and perpetrator;
• Streamline and clarify mandatory child abuse reporting processes;
• Increase penalties for failure to report suspected child abuse and protect persons who report child abuse;
• Promote the use of multi-disciplinary investigative teams (MDITs) to investigate child abuse related crimes and
• Support the use of information technology to increase efficiency and tracking of child abuse data.