A new bill introduced in the NY State Legislature would replace anonymous child abuse and neglect reports with confidential reports, requiring callers to the State Central Registry to provide identifying information when making a report.

Many parents at Rise have shared their stories of how perpetrators of domestic violence wield the child welfare system as a weapon to further dynamics of power, control and abuse. VOW (Voices of Women) has been working to address the issue of false and malicious reports of child abuse and neglect through their Rights of Children Campaign. Here, Raquel Singh, executive director of VOW, and Johnnie Lee Fielder, domestic violence advocate, discuss how replacing anonymous reporting with confidential reporting could make a difference.