Reporting maltreatment in a Department of Human Services (DHS) licensed facility
Facilities and services licensed under the Human Services Licensing Act MS 245A are required to have policies and procedures related to reporting suspected or alleged maltreatment (MS 245A.65 and MS 626.557, subdivision 4a).
The policies must include an internal reporting procedure, which allows an individual to report directly to the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center (MAARC/CEP) in addition to, or in lieu of, reporting to the facility designated reporter.
If you are a mandated reporter in a DHS licensed program and make an internal report to the facility designated reporter, you have met your mandated reporting responsibilities. It is the facility’s responsibility to determine whether your information will be reported to the MAARC/CEP, and if so, make the report. The facility must also respond to you in writing within two working days regarding whether a report was made to the MAARC/CEP. This written notice must be provided in a manner that protects your confidentiality as a reporter.
A facility may not prohibit a mandated reporter from reporting externally and a facility is prohibited from retaliating against a mandated reporter who reports an incident to the MAARC/CEP in good faith.