Reporting
How to Report Sexual Abuse in New Jersey
You can report sexual abuse in New Jersey to the police, to the state child abuse hotline on 1-877-652-2873, or to the licensing board that regulates the person involved, and you can report anonymously to the state hotline. You are not required to report anything to bring a civil claim, and choosing not to report does not weaken one.
You do not have to report anything to bring a claim
This page exists because the question is asked constantly, and because the honest answer is not the one people expect.
A civil claim does not depend on a report. No police report, no criminal charge, no conviction. Most of the people who contact this office never reported what happened to them, frequently for reasons that were entirely sound at the time, and it does not weaken a claim.
Reporting is a separate decision, and it is yours. What follows sets out the options honestly, including what each one starts.
The routes, and what each one does
Emergency
If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. Everything else on this page can wait.
The New Jersey child abuse hotline
The State Central Registry is operated by the New Jersey Department of Children and Families on 1-877-652-2873, staffed at every hour of every day. Anyone can call: a survivor, a parent, a relative, a neighbor, a teacher.
You do not have to give your name. A screener decides whether the report meets the threshold for investigation by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, and if it does, a caseworker investigates. The purpose is a child’s present safety rather than compensation.
New Jersey requires any person, not only certain professionals, to report where they have reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused. Certain professionals, including teachers, clergy, doctors, coaches and childcare staff, are frequently the ones in a position to know, which is why a failure to report can itself matter to a civil claim against an institution.
The police
Reporting to the municipal police department or to the county prosecutor’s office starts a criminal process. County prosecutors’ offices have victim witness units that support people through it.
The thing to understand before you call: once a report is made, the prosecutor decides what happens next, not you. That is not a reason to avoid reporting. It is a reason to think about the order in which you do things, and it is worth a conversation first if you have any hesitation.
Licensing boards
Where the person holds a professional license, a complaint to the regulator can lead to conditions, suspension or the loss of that license. For some survivors that outcome matters more than compensation does, because it is the thing that stops it happening to someone else.
In New Jersey this includes the State Board of Medical Examiners for physicians, the boards regulating nursing, psychology, massage and bodywork therapy, and the State Board of Examiners for teaching certificates. A board complaint is independent of both a criminal case and a civil claim.
Support that is not a report
RAINN’s national hotline on 1-800-656-4673 is free, confidential and staffed at any hour. New Jersey also has state-designated sexual violence programs in every county, offering counseling and accompaniment to hospital, police and court. Speaking to any of them is not a report and starts nothing.
Reporting to a school, church or employer
Worth separating out, because it is the route people take most often and the one whose consequences are least understood.
An internal complaint is investigated by the organization itself, on its own timetable, by people who work for it. Where that organization may also be responsible for what happened, it is investigating its own conduct. It is not a substitute for an external report.
None of that makes it wrong. It is simply worth knowing before you start, and worth taking advice on first, because the record an internal process creates can matter later in both directions.
If you are deciding what to do first
There is no required order and no wrong one. A free confidential call costs nothing, starts nothing, and can tell you what each route would actually mean in your circumstances before you commit to any of them.
What a civil claim involves is set out on the sexual abuse lawsuits page, and the deadline question, which is genuinely fact-specific, on the filing deadlines page.
Free, confidential, and no obligation. You decide what happens next, and you can stop at any point.
Questions people ask
Can I report sexual abuse anonymously in New Jersey?
You can report suspected child abuse to the State Central Registry hotline on 1-877-652-2873 without giving your name. Anonymous reports are accepted and acted on, though giving your details lets an investigator come back to you for information that may matter.
Do I have to report it to sue?
No. A civil claim does not require a police report, a criminal charge or a conviction, and never reporting does not weaken a claim. Most of the people who contact this office never reported.
Is it too late to report something from years ago?
Reporting and suing are different questions with different time limits. A report can be made at any time, and even where a criminal prosecution is no longer possible a report can still matter, because it may corroborate other people and it creates a record.
What happens after I call the state hotline?
A screener takes the information and decides whether it meets the threshold for investigation by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency. If it does, a caseworker investigates. The process concerns the child's safety rather than compensation, which is a separate matter.
Should I report to the licensing board as well?
Where the person is licensed, a board complaint can result in the loss of their license, which for some survivors matters more than money. It is separate from both a criminal case and a civil claim, and you can pursue any combination of the three.
Will reporting force me into a criminal case I do not want?
A prosecutor decides whether to charge, so once a report is made you do not control what follows. That is a genuine consideration and a reason to think about the order in which you do things. It is worth a conversation before rather than after.
Can I report to a school or employer instead?
You can, and you should know what it starts. An internal complaint is investigated by the organization itself, on its timetable, with its own interests involved. It is not a substitute for an external report and it is worth taking advice first.
Can I report anonymously?
Yes. The New Jersey child abuse hotline on 1-877-652-2873 takes anonymous reports and you are not required to give your name. An anonymous report still creates a record and can still trigger an investigation. It does not start a civil claim, and it is not a precondition for one.
How do I report someone I believe is abusing children now?
Call the New Jersey child abuse hotline on 1-877-652-2873, which operates 24 hours. If a child is in immediate danger, call 911 first. You do not need proof, and you are not expected to investigate. Reasonable cause to believe is the standard, and deciding whether it happened is the state's job rather than yours.