Indiana

Facilities in Indiana

Residential facilities providing religious, behavioral, and mental health treatment to children exist in all 50 states. Some of these facilities are known to be part of the Troubled Teen Industry, while others have not yet been verified. Any facility where children live and receive care requires additional oversight. This directory helps communities monitor local programs and advocate for accountability.

Reporting abuse in Indiana

Indiana is the state where a complaint about a therapist does not start at the licensing board at all. It goes to the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division, which reviews it and only then takes it to the relevant board asking for action against the licence. Indiana also protects reporters unusually firmly: state law requires the Department of Child Services to keep the identity of anyone reporting abuse confidential.

Time limits in Indiana: a general guide

This was correct as far as we could tell when we checked it on 28 September 2026. Laws on time limits change often, sometimes every legislative session, so some of what follows may have been updated since. It is a starting point, not legal advice: please check with a lawyer before relying on any date here. A time limit on a lawsuit or a criminal charge is also not a time limit on telling someone, and most of the places listed below will still take a report.

Time limits for abuse of a child often run from the survivor's 18th birthday, or from when they came to understand what happened, rather than from the day the program closed. Many states have lengthened them, removed them for child sexual abuse, or reopened claims that had already expired. A criminal charge, a lawsuit and a licence complaint each have their own time limit, so one having passed does not necessarily mean the others have.

Lawsuits

Physical abuse or injury: Two years from the injury for any personal injury claim, including assault, battery, false imprisonment and negligence. Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4(a)
If it happened before you turned 18: Yes. A person who was under 18 when hurt has 2 years after turning 18 (until age 20) to sue. The statute sets no cap. Ind. Code § 34-11-6-1; § 1-1-4-5(a)(24)
If the program was run by or for the government: Less certain Before suing, written notice is required: within 270 days of the injury for the State (to the Attorney General or the agency), or within 180 days for a county, city, school or other local body. The lawsuit itself follows the normal two-year deadline. Ind. Code §§ 34-13-3-6(a), 34-13-3-8(a), 34-13-3-9
Child sexual abuse: The SOL for CSA, trafficking, and CSAM civil claims is age 20 against all defendants, or a period of time from discovery, elimination of dependency status, or criminal conviction. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Most felony child abuse (battery on a child, or neglect of a dependent, which includes cruel confinement or restraining a child with handcuffs, rope or tape) must be charged within 5 years. The most serious grades (Level 1 or 2 felonies, such as neglect causing death or catastrophic injury to a child under 14, or battery causing death of a child under 14) can be charged at any time. The clock is not paused until the child turns 18. Ind. Code § 35-41-4-2(a)(1), (c), (h); § 35-46-1-4; § 35-42-2-1
Assault: Felony battery (Level 3 to 6) must be charged within 5 years; Level 1 and 2 felonies have no limit. Misdemeanor battery must be charged within 2 years. Ind. Code § 35-41-4-2(a); § 35-42-2-1
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL for Class A felony rape. The SOL for other offenses varies from age 31, to 10 years after the offense, or 4 years after the victim ceases to be a dependent of the perpetrator. Trafficking: There is no SOL for felony child sex trafficking. CSAM: The SOL for CSAM violations is 10 years from the offense or 4 years after the victim ceases to be a dependent of the perpetrator, whichever is later. CHILD USA's summary

The injury, assault and physical abuse lines are our reading of the statutes linked, as they stood on 28 September 2026. The child sexual abuse lines are CHILD USA's summary as it stood on 28 September 2026; their page may be more current than ours. In them SOL means statute of limitations, CSA child sexual abuse, and CSAM child sexual abuse material. "Less certain" marks a line where the law is unclear or where our reading has not been confirmed, so please treat it with extra care. Exceptions, court rulings and the details of what happened can all change which time limit applies, and some of these may be longer or shorter for you than they look here. CHILD USA's statute of limitations tracker, updated as each state changes its law. A lawyer can tell you which time limit applies to you, and many offer a free first consultation.

The therapist's licensing board

Holds the individual clinician's licence and can suspend or revoke it.

Indiana Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division (licensing complaints)

Multiple professions

Takes complaints from the public against licensed professionals, reviews them first, and where it finds merit brings the case to the relevant board - the Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board, or the Psychology Board - seeking action against the licence.

Use this whenA licensed social worker, marriage and family therapist, mental health counselor, clinical addiction counselor or psychologist in Indiana.

HowObtain the complaint form from the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division and file it there, not with the licensing agency.

The agency that licenses the program

Inspects the facility itself and can cite, fine, suspend or close it.

Indiana DCS Residential Licensing Unit

Licenses child caring institutions, private secure facilities, group homes and emergency shelters in Indiana. Its Residential Licensing Unit reviews every institutional report of alleged child abuse or neglect connected to a licensed facility - including reports that were screened out - to decide whether the facility broke its licence or its contract.

Use this whenA DCS-licensed residential facility. The Indiana Department of Health separately runs at least annual unannounced health, food and sanitation surveys of these same facilities.

HowAn institutional report goes in through the child abuse hotline; the Residential Licensing Unit picks it up from there.

That the Unit reviews even screened-out reports matters: a report that child protection declines to investigate can still count against the facility's licence.

1-800-800-5556 The child abuse hotline is the intake route for institutional reports.
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Law enforcement and legal channels

Child protection, the Attorney General, and the criminal side.

Indiana Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline

The statewide 24-hour report line run by the Department of Child Services. It also connects families with no open case to free home-based services.

Use this whenA child at an Indiana program.

HowCall, at any hour including weekends and holidays. If every line is busy, there is a second number. Press option 2 instead if you want a referral to local support rather than to make a report.

You can report anonymously, and even if you give your name, Indiana law requires the Department to keep the identity and contact details of every report source confidential.

1-800-800-5556 24 hours a day. If the lines are down, 1-833-800-5556.
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Oversight and advocacy

Bodies with a right to investigate, and advocates who can act for you.

Indiana DCS Ombudsman Bureau

Takes complaints about the Department of Child Services itself - how it handled a case, or failed to.

It reviews the agency, not the program.

Use this whenA family or young person whose report to DCS went nowhere.

Indiana Disability Rights

Indiana's Protection and Advocacy agency, with federal authority to investigate abuse and neglect of people with disabilities in facilities, a right of access to them, and free legal advocacy.

Use this whenAn Indiana program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

1-800-622-4845 Main line 317-722-5555 voice/TDD.
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National reporting channels, and the same list for other states