• Physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child or the genuine threat of substantial harm from physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or conservator that does not expose the child to a substantial risk of harm
• Failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury or substantial harm to the child
• The current use by a person of a controlled substance in a manner or to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or emotional injury to a child
• Causing, expressly permitting, or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance

• Placing a child in, or failing to remove a child from, a situation that a reasonable person would realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child's level of maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that results in bodily injury or a substantial risk of immediate harm to the child
• Failing to seek, obtain, or follow through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in or presenting a substantial risk of death, disfigurement, or bodily injury, or with the failure resulting in an observable and material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of the child
• Failing to provide a child with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by financial inability unless relief services had been offered and refused
• Placing a child in, or failing to remove the child from, a situation in which the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of sexual conduct harmful to the child
• Placing a child in, or failing to remove the child from, a situation in which the child would be exposed to acts or omissions that constitute sexual abuse
• The failure by the person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to return to the child's home without arranging for the necessary care for the child after the child has been absent from the home for any reason, including having been in residential placement or having run away

Sexual Abuse/Exploitation - Citation: Fam. Code § 261.001
The term 'abuse' includes the following acts or omissions by a person:

• Sexual conduct harmful to a child's mental, emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct that constitutes the offense of indecency with a child, sexual assault, or aggravated sexual assault
• Failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child
• Compelling or encouraging a child to engage in sexual conduct
• Causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of a child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene or pornographic
• Causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child

Emotional Abuse - Citation: Fam. Code § 261.001
The term 'abuse' includes the following acts or omissions by a person:

• Mental or emotional injury to a child that results in an observable and material impairment in the child's growth, development, or psychological functioning
• Causing or permitting a child to be in a situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury that results in an observable and material impairment in the child's growth, development, or psychological functioning

Abandonment - Citation: Fam. Code § 261.001
The term 'neglect' includes leaving a child in a situation where the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of physical or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child, and the demonstration of intent not to return by a parent, guardian, or conservator of the child.

Standards for Reporting - Citation: Fam. Code § 261.101
A report is required when there is cause to believe that the child's physical or mental health has been adversely affected by abuse or neglect.

Persons Responsible for the Child - Citation: Fam. Code § 261.001
'Person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare' means a person who traditionally is responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare, including:

• A parent, guardian, conservator, or foster parent of the child
• A member of the child's family or household, meaning persons living together in the same dwelling, without regard to whether they are related to each other, and includes persons who previously lived in the household
• A person with whom the child's parent cohabits
• School personnel or a volunteer at the child's school
• Personnel or a volunteer at a public or private child care facility that provides services for the child or at a public or private residential institution or facility where the child resides

Exceptions - Citation: Fam. Code § 261.001
Abuse does not include reasonable discipline by a parent that does not expose the child to substantial risk of harm.