Judge erred on duty of ‘mandated reporter’

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted October 27, 2021 9:50 AM

As a mandated reporter under Sec. 4 of the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act, Matthew Willigman, the principal of an elementary school in Aurora, had a statutory duty to immediately notify the Department of Children and Family Services if he had “reasonable cause to believe” that one of his students was abused or neglected. When Kane County prosecutors charged Willigman of willfully violating Sec. 4 by failing to tell DCFS that a student’s stepfather mentioned to Willigman that there allegedly was some sort of …

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