Forty years later: inconsistencies in reporting of child abuse

Incidentally, the fact of illegality tends to make health care providers reticent to discuss difficult cases with colleagues unless they do plan to report, and reticent to cite their own decisions not to report all cases. [...]the literature referred to in this review may underestimate the incidence of non-reporting of child maltreatment. [...]improved CPS assessments and interventions leading to better outcomes for children and families would go a long way towards improving the motivation of providers to report injured children to state agencies.