If you have just seen or experienced a crime, or one is in progress, call 9-1-1 immediately.
To search the current listing missing person please go to the Washington State Missing Persons. You do not need to wait for the person to be missing for 24 hours to report them missing. You should report a missing person as soon as it is clear they are missing. Someone is missing this is particularly important in the cases of missing children or vulnerable adults who are missing.
Social Workers in community mental health and certain other social services are responsible on some level for the safety of the clients assigned to work with. Documented outreach is required for clients who have lost contact with you who are on your caseload. The policy of what constitutes an acceptable level of outreach vary from one agency to the next. You may want to use List of Local Hospitals to call around to find out if your client is in the hospital.
As a Social Worker you are a mandated reporter. As a mandated reporter you are personally legally required to repot or cause a report to be made to the appropriate authority regarding abuse. Your statement is not admissible unless you are the one who witnessed the abuse or directly heard claims of abuse from a vicim, but it is wise to still report and document any information you receive regarding abuse. It is important that you encourage any person who has first hand knowlege of abuse. It is a good idea to clearly document cases of abuse, and you should keep a copy of this documentation in your personal records at home.
Child abuse is both important to report, but also difficult to determine. Here is a guide to Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse Info put out by Washington State. The first person to hear about the abuse is the one who should report. If you did not directly hear about or witness abuse then you should encourage or assist the person who did contact one of the following below listed government entities.
To report suspected cases of Child abuse you should call your local Children's Administration Office. Please Click Here to be directed to a page where you can look up your local Children's Administration Office. 1-866-363-4276 (1-866-EndHarm) should be called on the evenings and weekends. You will most likely be asked the following questions 1. name, address, and age of the child, 2. the name and address of the person who is in custody of the child, 3. the nature and extent of the abuse, 4. evidence that establishes a history of abuse or neglect.
When reporting the neglect or abuse of a vulnerable adult you may call the complaint resolution unit at 1-800-562-6078 if the individual lives in a nursing home, boarding home, or adult family home. Snohomish County adult protective services investigates allegations of abuse or neglect of adults for residents of Snohomish County. Phone numbers for other counties can be found Aging and Long-Term Support Admin resources web page.