Does the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act apply to authorities who receive reports of abuse?

By way of example, in Newton v. County of Napa, supra, 217 Cal.App.3d 1551, 266 Cal.Rptr. 682, deputy sheriffs, a probation officer and a social worker came to a family's home, took the children into the bathroom without parental consent, directed the children to undress and examined them for evidence of abuse. Rejecting application of the Act to authorities who receive

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"The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act serves to encourage and regulate the reporting of suspected child abuse; the immunity conferred by Penal Code section 11172 refers by its terms only to persons making such reports. While the policy ... of broadly construing this grant of immunity may arguably also be found in other closely related statutes, the statutory language itself extends only to persons reporting child abuse to governmental authorities; it does not apply to actions taken by officials who receive such reports of abuse." (Newton v. County of Napa, supra, 217 Cal.App.3d at p. 1558, 266 Cal.Rptr. 682, emphasis added.)

Officials who receive reports may have qualified immunities under other statutes, said the court, but they are not entitled to the absolute immunity of section 11172, subdivision (a). (Newton v. County of Napa, supra, 217 Cal.App.3d at pp. 1558-1559, 266 Cal.Rptr. 682.)