Mandatory Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Complaint/Disciplinary Processes
Mandatory reporting, records, and the disciplinary process
Child abuse and neglect: Under Family Code Chapter 261, professionals - social workers included - must report suspected abuse or neglect to DFPS through the Texas Abuse Hotline no later than 48 hours after first having cause to believe it. The duty is personal: telling a supervisor or agency designee does not discharge it. Good-faith reports carry immunity, and failure to report is an offense. Adults: Human Resources Code Chapter 48 requires reporting abuse, neglect, or exploitation of elderly or disabled adults to DFPS promptly. Confidentiality never blocks a mandatory report, and a client's plea for secrecy is not a defense.
Records: keep accurate, timely, and securely stored records; release them only with authorization, court order, or legal mandate; and retain them per board rule (at least five years after the last date of service, and longer where other law or a minor's status requires). In agency settings the record generally belongs to the agency, not the individual worker.
Complaints: anyone may file with TBSWE. The board investigates and may dismiss, resolve by agreed order (reprimand, administrative penalty, additional CE, supervised practice), or file a formal complaint heard at SOAH. Licensees must cooperate; ignoring a board inquiry is itself a violation. Sanctions range from reprimand to revocation.
Traps: counting the 48 hours from confirmation rather than first suspicion; reporting only internally; assuming a hospital or school already reported for you; or believing confidentiality prevents the report.
Worked example: A client mentions her partner burned her child's arm. You have reason to believe abuse occurred. Call the hotline within 48 hours, provide the information you have, and document the report - regardless of the client's request for secrecy. Rule of thumb: suspicion starts the clock, and only DFPS receives the report.