SPIRO T. AGNEW, Governor                      1395

4.    "Education or social worker" shall mean any teacher in any
school, public, parochial or private, or any caseworker or social
worker in any public or private social, educational, health or [wel-
fare] social service agency.

5.    "Law enforcement officer" shall mean any policeman, con-
stable, sheriff, deputy sheriff or State trooper in the service of the
State of Maryland or any county or municipality thereof.

(d) Each such report made pursuant to the provisions of this
section shall be made to the agencies as provided for hereinafter,
both orally and in written form; both the reports to be made as
soon as is reasonably possible in the circumstances, but, in any
case, the written report must be made within forty-eight (48) hours
of the contact, examination, attention or treatment which disclosed
the existence of possible malicious treatment or beating. The oral
report shall be made either by telephone or direct communication
to the local department of [welfare] social services, provided, how-
ever, that such report shall not be necessary if it is the local de-
partment of [welfare] social services which discovers the condi-
tion and provided, further, that if the person making the report
believes or has reason to believe that immediate protection of the
child or children is necessary to insure the physical safety or welfare
of the child or children involved, then in such event, the matter
shall also be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
The written reports required to be made shall be made in all cases
to the local department of [welfare] social services and to the
local State's attorney.

The oral and written reports shall contain the following informa-
tion, or as much thereof as the person making the report shall be
able in the circumstances to furnish:

(1)    The name and home address or addresses of the child or
children and the parent or other persons responsible for the care
of the child or children in question;

(2)    The present whereabouts of the child or children if not the
same as the home address or addresses;

(3)    The age or ages of the child or children;

(4)    The nature and extent of the injuries or injury of the child
or children in question, including any evidence or information avail-
able to the person or agency rendering the report of previous in-
jury or injuries possibly resulting from malicious mistreatment or
beating;

(5)    All such other information available to the reporter which
would be of aid in establishing the cause of the injuries and identity
of the person or persons responsible therefor.

A report made by anyone other than a health practitioner, educa-
tion or [welfare] social service worker, or law enforcement officer
may be either written or oral, or both, and such reports shall be
regarded as a report within the provisions of this section, whether
or not the report contains all of the required information provided
for in this subsection. Such reports by private persons or agencies
other than the local department of [welfare] social services shall
be promptly referred by the receiving agency to the local depart-
ment of [welfare] social services. The local department of [wel-