## Facts

- Candace Young, a licensed marriage, family, and child counselor and clinical psychologist, provided psychotherapy to David and Nancy Stecks’s adult daughter beginning in 1988.
- During therapy, the daughter accused her parents of childhood sexual molestation and alleged they engaged in satanic/cult practices, substance abuse, and ritual abuse involving human and animal sacrifice and “brainwashing.”
- The daughter further claimed that her nephew (the Steckses’ grandson) was to be sacrificed in a ritual around the fall equinox.
- Young did not interview the Steckses, the grandchild, or the child’s parents before reporting; the report was allegedly based solely on the patient’s statements.
- Young made oral and written reports to Child Protective Services accusing the Steckses and others of child abuse and cult-related activity.
- The Steckses sued Young for libel per se, slander per se, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleging the accusations were false and that Young reported without reasonable suspicion, included irrelevant matters, and reported untimely.

## Issues

1. Whether Penal Code § 11172(a) confers absolute immunity on a mandated reporter for child-abuse reports to authorities, barring tort claims based on the act and content of reporting.
2. Whether alleged lack of “reasonable suspicion” at the time of reporting removes a mandated reporter from § 11172(a) immunity.
3. Whether inclusion of allegedly irrelevant information (e.g., cult or satanic allegations) in a report defeats § 11172(a) immunity.
4. Whether alleged untimeliness or technical noncompliance with reporting requirements defeats § 11172(a) immunity.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of dismissal after the trial court sustained Young’s demurrer without leave to amend.
- The court held Young was entitled to absolute immunity under Penal Code § 11172(a) for her oral and written reports to Child Protective Services.
- The Steckses could not state claims for damages predicated on the making of the reports, even accepting the complaint’s allegations as true for demurrer purposes.

## Legal Principles

- Under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Penal Code § 11164 et seq.), Penal Code § 11172(a) provides immunity to mandated reporters for reports of suspected child abuse made pursuant to the statutory scheme.
- The immunity is absolute when the report falls within the statutory reporting framework; it is not conditioned on later civil litigation over whether suspicion was “reasonable.”
- Courts will not permit tort liability based on parsing whether particular details included in a child-abuse report were “relevant” where the report concerns potential abuse within CANRA’s broad scope.
- Alleged delay or technical noncompliance with timing requirements does not strip a mandated reporter of § 11172(a) immunity for making the report.
- On demurrer, courts accept well-pleaded allegations as true, but statutory immunity may defeat causes of action as a matter of law.

## Conclusion

The court held that a mandated reporter’s oral and written child-abuse reports to authorities are protected by absolute immunity under Penal Code § 11172(a), and that civil tort claims cannot proceed based on allegations that the reporter lacked reasonable suspicion, included irrelevant content, or reported untimely.


Stecks v. Young, 38 Cal. App. 4th 365, 45 Cal. Rptr. 2d 475 (Ct. App. 1995)