🚨 UPDATE: Mariah’s Law is Now a Formal Legislative Proposal

Texas Child Abuse Reporting Reform Act (The Mariah Amendment)

The Mariah Amendment is a proposed legislative change to the Texas Family Code that would fix a dangerous loophole: right now, Texas law does not require police to accept, document, or forward reports of child abuse if it happened outside their jurisdiction.

That means children can be turned away. Reports vanish. CPS never gets notified. Families are left with nowhere to go.

We’re fighting to amend Texas Family Code § 261.103 to make it crystal clear that every law enforcement agency must:

Accept and document abuse reports, regardless of jurisdiction
Immediately forward them to CPS or the proper agency
Track and log these reports for accountability
Train all officers, dispatchers, and clerks on proper handling
Face penalties for refusing to take valid abuse reports

We’re also calling for a statewide audit process, mandatory logs, and clearer training standards for police across Texas.

This law is named for Mariah, a brave young girl whose report was turned away by officers due to jurisdiction confusion. CPS was never notified. Mariah is not alone — and this amendment will make sure no other child gets ignored.

Let’s fix the system. Let’s make it law.

📣 Sign, share, and help us get this to the Texas Legislature.
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  My daughter Mariah and I walked into a police station — scared, hurting, and doing what we thought was the right thing. We were there to report that she had been abused. But instead of help, we were met with a cold technicality: “It didn’t happen in our jurisdiction.” They refused to take the report.

We were devastated. I was her mother doing everything I could to protect her, and the system that’s supposed to protect children turned its back on us. It took two more weeks and a 4½-hour drive back to the town where the abuse occurred just to get the report filed. That delay could have cost us everything. By grace and grit, we finally got it reported — and the abuser was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

But here's the truth: most families wouldn't have made it that far.

Right now in Texas, law enforcement can legally turn away reports of child abuse if it happened outside their jurisdiction. That means parents and children are being denied justice — not because the abuse didn’t happen, but because of a zip code. That’s not just frustrating. That’s dangerous.

Mariah’s Law would change that.

Mariah’s Law would require every law enforcement agency in Texas — whether it’s police or sheriff’s departments — to accept reports of suspected child abuse, no matter where it happened. It would require them to immediately forward the report to the appropriate agency within 24 hours. No more runaround. No more doors closed. No more delays.

It would also mandate trauma-informed training for officers — because how a child is treated when they first report abuse matters. One wrong interaction can shut a child down forever.

Let me be clear: this law isn’t about politics. It’s about protecting kids. It’s about making sure no mother, no father, and no child ever has to fight as hard as we did just to be heard.

Texas has a chance to do better. But we need your voice. Sign this petition to demand lawmakers pass Mariah’s Law. Share it. Talk about it. Tell your community that this matters.

Because if just one more child gets turned away, that’s one too many.