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The New Arizona Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry
by Ryan T. McGuire When Arizona accuses a person of child abuse, that person faces more than potential criminal charges and juvenile court proceedings; they also risk placement on the “central registry.” The central registry is a semi-confidential list of individuals against whom the Department of Child Safety (“DCS”) has substantiated findings of child abuse […]
The Triad of Abusive Head Trauma
By Ryan T. McGuire In October 2025, a Virginia man, La’Shaun Quintae Holloway, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his two-month-old baby [1]. The facts of the case were horrific. While the baby was in Holloway’s sole care, family members heard him over an Xbox headset yelling obscenities at the infant. Shortly […]
Who’s a Mandatory Reporter, Anyway? Part 2: Doe v. Warr and Broader Liability
by Ryan T. McGuire When a Sunday school teacher fails to report suspected child abuse, can she be held legally responsible? This question recently came before the Arizona Court of Appeals in Doe v. Warr (2025), a case that has quietly but significantly expanded the scope of who can be considered a mandatory reporter under […]
Who’s a Mandatory Reporter, Anyway?
Paging Father M.D. by Ryan T. McGuire, Law Clerk You are driving home from work and are stopped behind a bus at a busy Phoenix intersection. You see what you assume is a mother tugging her toddler by the arm, perhaps trying to get the child ready to get on the bus as it approaches […]
The September Surge: Understanding Seasonal Patterns in Child Abuse Detection
By Ryan T. McGuire, Woodnick Law Clerk When COVID-19 lockdowns began in March 2020, child welfare agencies noticed a significant decline in child abuse reports. [1] But did child abuse actually drop during the pandemic? Unlikely. Data from Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (DCS) reveals a telling pattern. In June 2024, the agency received 2,756 […]
Retinal Hemorrhages
by Markus W. Risinger and Ryan T. McGuire Investigators commonly point to retinal hemorrhages, or retinal bleeding, to distinguish child abuse from accidental injury or underlying medical conditions. Courts rely on expert testimony identifying retinal hemorrhages as evidence of child abuse so frequently that the diagnosis has almost become shorthand for an abuse finding. But […]
Remembering Dr. Henry Kempe
Child abuse was not always criminalized. The United States did not prosecute a case until 1874. There, Mary Ellen Wilson was an adopted orphan whose mistreatment was discovered by her neighbors when she was nine years old. Because of her emaciated appearance, the neighbors thought she was five years old. Authorities soon discovered that Mary […]
A Court-Focused Perspective: The Benefits of a Second Opinion
By Gregg Woodnick and Isabel Ranney A term often thrown around when discussing family court matters is “high conflict litigation.” In general, family court can be traumatic and disputes involving the care of children all are emotionally draining. But the term “high conflict” really should be reserved for cases that are (sadly) explosive. Frequently, these […]
Alternative Explanations for Purported Child Abuse
A common joke among law students, especially for those like me with an undergrad degree in political science, is that we attended law school to avoid math and other topics like it. We certainly did not attend law school expecting to research medical conditions. But in my time working on cases involving allegations of child […]
To Catch A Predator: TikTok Edition
Everyone knows Chris Hansen’s show, To Catch A Predator. He was praised for exposing pedophiles to the world by posing online as underage girls that the pedophiles attempted to meet in-person, collecting evidence against the perpetrators just like law enforcement. But now, teenagers inspired by Hansen are exacting their own form of retribution against purported pedophiles. […]