Holman

BACKGROUND LEGAL PRINCIPLES

The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA; Pen. Code,1 § 11164 et seq.) was enacted to protect children from abuse and neglect through a comprehensive reporting scheme aimed at identifying and protecting children who are being abused or neglected. (B.H. v. County of San Bernardino (2015) 62 Cal.4th 168, 174 (San Bernardino); Ferraro v. Chadwick (1990) 221 Cal.App.3d 86, 90; §§ 11166.3, subd. (a), 11164, subd. (b).) To achieve its purpose, CANRA imposes a mandatory reporting requirement on certain individuals, known as “ ‘mandated reporters’ ” whose duties bring them into contact with children on a regular basis. (San Bernardino, at pp. 178, 185; § 11165.7, subd. (a).) Under section 11166, subdivision (a), a mandated reporter must make a report to a law enforcement agency or a county welfare department “whenever the mandated reporter, in [a] mandated professional capacity or within the scope of . . . employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect.” (§ 11166, subd. (a).) As defined in CANRA, the term “ ‘child abuse or neglect’ ” includes…