Report Abuse

A report can go to more than one place at once, and usually should. The licensing board can take a therapist's licence. The state licensor can act against the program. Child protection and the police handle the crime. They do not talk to each other reliably, so telling one is not telling the others.

If you need help right now rather than a place to report, the Resources page lists the crisis lines.

Which state is the program in?

Report to the state the program is in, not the state you live in. The agency with the power to act is the one where the facility sits.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin gives anyone receiving mental health or substance use treatment a statutory set of client rights, with a formal grievance procedure behind them and client rights staff who will write the grievance for you if you ask. That is separate from complaining about the clinician or the facility, and it is the channel most people in a Wisconsin program have never been told exists.

Time limits in Wisconsin: 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: Three years for assault, battery, false imprisonment and other intentional harm, and three years for negligence and other personal injury. Wis. Stat. § 893.57 (intentional torts); Wis. Stat. § 893.54(1m)(a) (injury to the person)
If it happened before you turned 18: For someone injured as a child, the deadline is the later of the normal three years from the injury or two years after turning 18, which is age 20. Wisconsin's longer deadline for childhood abuse (until age 35) covers sexual abuse only. Wis. Stat. § 893.16(1)-(2)
If the program was run by or for the government: Less certain For a county, city, school district or other local government, serve written notice within 120 days of the injury, and file an itemized claim. If the claim is denied, you have six months from the denial notice to sue. For a state employee, serve written notice on the Attorney General within 120 days of the injury. Wis. Stat. § 893.80(1d), (1g) (local governments); Wis. Stat. § 893.82(3) (state officers and employees)
Child sexual abuse: CSA: The civil SOL for CSA claims against perpetrators is age 35. The SOL against other types of defendants is age 20, with a narrow exception for negligent supervision claims against religious organizations for clergy abuse, which have an SOL of age 35. Trafficking: The SOL for trafficking claims is age 20. CSAM: The SOL for CSAM claims is age 20. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Physical abuse of a child can be charged until the victim turns 45 if it caused great bodily harm on purpose. Other physical child abuse, reckless abuse, failing to protect a child, and causing a child mental harm can be charged until the victim turns 26. The normal six years from the offense applies if it ends later. Wis. Stat. § 939.74(2)(c), (2)(cm); Wis. Stat. § 948.03 (physical abuse of a child); § 948.04 (causing mental harm to a child)
Assault: Six years from the offense for felony battery or assault. Misdemeanor battery: three years. Wis. Stat. § 939.74(1)
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL for some first-degree CSA felonies, an SOL of age 45 for other CSA felonies, and 3 years from the offense for misdemeanors. Trafficking: The SOL for trafficking is age 45. CSAM: The SOL for CSAM violations is age 45. 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.

Wisconsin Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board

Multiple professions

A combined board under the Department of Safety and Professional Services covering marriage and family therapists, professional counselors and social workers. DSPS provides the investigators and prosecutors for it, and the board disciplines the licence.

Use this whenA licensed marriage and family therapist, professional counselor or social worker in Wisconsin. Psychologists have their own examining board under the same department.

HowFile a written complaint through the Department's Division of Legal Services and Compliance. Board staff first decide whether it is within their jurisdiction.

Complaints are accepted from clients, employers, colleagues and other agencies alike.

The agency that licenses the program

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

Wisconsin DHS, residential and community-based care licensing

Licenses and certifies Wisconsin's residential and community-based care providers and takes complaints against them.

Use this whenA licensed residential program.

HowUse the Department's complaint route.

Law enforcement and legal channels

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

Wisconsin county Child Protective Services

Starts a child protection response. Wisconsin's CPS is state-supervised but county-administered in 71 counties, and state-administered in Milwaukee, so the report goes to the county agency where the child is. An Access worker takes it and decides whether it meets the statutory definition.

Use this whenA child at a Wisconsin program. Anyone can report, to the local CPS agency or to law enforcement.

HowFind the county agency in the Department's directory and call it; the directory also lists after-hours numbers. If the abuse is happening now or is violent, call 911.

Oversight and advocacy

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

Wisconsin client rights grievance procedure (DHS 94)

Wisconsin law gives people receiving mental health, substance use or developmental disability services a set of client rights and a formal grievance procedure to enforce them. The provider must have a client rights specialist, and a grievance can be escalated beyond the provider.

Use this whenSomeone in a Wisconsin program whose rights are being breached - restrictions, treatment, how they are being handled day to day - whether or not it amounts to abuse.

HowFile a formal grievance using the sample form, or ask a client rights staff member to write it down for you, which the Department says they will do. There is a published flow chart of the whole procedure.

Disability Rights Wisconsin

Wisconsin'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. The Department of Health Services names it directly as where to take a disability rights grievance.

Use this whenA Wisconsin program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

1-800-928-8778 Direct line 608-308-2648.
More about this body

Wherever the program is

Bodies that take a report wherever the program is. None of these replaces the state channels: the state licensing board and the state licensor are the ones that can take somebody's licence away. For crisis lines, see the Resources page - this list is about reporting, not about getting through tonight.

Law enforcement and legal channels

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

Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline

Talks through what happened, tells you which state agency takes the report, and stays on the line while you work out what to say. Counselors are available 24/7.

It is not itself an investigating agency. It routes you; it does not open a case.

Use this whenAnyone unsure where a report about a child should go, including a survivor who is now an adult and a parent who has just got their child out.

HowCall, text GO to the same number, or use the live chat on the site.

1-800-422-4453 24 hours, every day. Text GO to 800-422-4453, or chat from the website.
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State child abuse and neglect reporting numbers (Child Welfare Information Gateway)

The federal government's directory of every state's child protection intake line, with each state's online reporting option where one exists.

Use this whenA child currently at the program. Report to the state the program sits in, not the state the family lives in - the agency with jurisdiction is the one where the child is.

HowFind the state on the directory page, then call that state's intake line.

Most states take an anonymous report but will act on more of it if they can call you back.

U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division

Takes reports of civil rights violations, including conditions in institutions where people are held. Its Special Litigation Section is the part that investigates residential facilities under CRIPA and can sue an institution or a state over a pattern of abuse.

It does not act for one person against one program. It looks for patterns, and it decides on its own whether to open anything.

Use this whenA facility where the abuse is systemic rather than one member of staff - restraint practice, seclusion, denial of medical care, conditions across a whole program.

HowSubmit the online report form. Paper forms can be downloaded and mailed.

1-855-856-1247 Toll free. Direct line 202-514-3847, TTY 711.
File a complaint
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By postU.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20530-0001

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General hotline

Investigates fraud and abuse in federally funded health programs. Where a program bills Medicaid, this is often the lever that moves first, because billing for treatment that was not given is easier to prove than the treatment being abusive.

It will not get you a refund or a remedy in your own case, and says so plainly. Volume means most complaints get no reply.

Use this whenA program billing Medicaid or another federal program - for therapy hours nobody delivered, for staff who were not qualified, for a level of care the child was not getting.

HowSubmit through the online tips portal. It only takes unclassified complaints online.

Oversight and advocacy

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

Your state's Protection and Advocacy agency

Every state has one, funded by Congress. Under the DD Act and PAIMI they have legal authority to investigate abuse and neglect wherever a person with a disability receives services, and a right of access to the place itself - they can go in. Several of the hardest reports on programs in this industry came from P&A investigations.

Use this whenA program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis, which covers most placements in this industry. You do not need a formal diagnosis to call and ask.

HowFind your state's agency in the NDRN directory and contact its intake line. Report to the state the program is in.

The Joint Commission, Office of Quality and Patient Safety

Accredits behavioral health organisations and can review, cite, or ultimately withdraw accreditation. Losing accreditation can cost a program its insurance contracts and its Medicaid participation, which is sometimes the fastest real consequence available.

It only has standing over organisations it accredits, and it does not discipline an individual clinician. Check the program is accredited first.

Use this whenA Joint Commission accredited facility. Its Find Accredited Organizations search will tell you whether a program is one.

HowUse the online submission form, which it prefers, or call. It does not take walk-ins, faxes or email, and it shreds medical records, photos and invoices on arrival.

You can file anonymously, but it can only tell you what it did with the complaint if you give your name.

1-800-994-6610
File a complaint
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By postOffice of Quality and Patient Safety, The Joint Commission, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

CARF International

The other accreditor much of this industry uses. Takes concerns about an accredited provider and can act on its accreditation.

Like any accreditor it has no power over an unaccredited program, and none over an individual therapist's licence.

Use this whenA CARF-accredited program. CARF asks you to try the provider's own grievance process first, and says to go to your state P&A agency or the state licensor if that does not resolve it.

HowUse the feedback form on the public page, or call the dedicated line.

1-866-510-2273 Toll free, 866-510-CARF.
File a complaint
By postCARF International, 6951 East Southpoint Road, Tucson, AZ 85756

This is a directory, not legal advice. Which channel fits your situation, and what a deadline means for your case, are questions for a lawyer. The Resources page lists where to start looking for one.