The booklet explains requirements for reporting abuse or neglect of children and disabled adults contained in the North Carolina Juvenile Code and the Protection of the Abused, Neglected or Exploited Disabled Adult Act. Following a brief historical review, the text discusses who must report abuse and neglect, what acts or conditions must be reported, how a report should be made, how a child is protected in an emergency, what processes might follow a report (investigations, criminal prosecutions, reports to a central registry), and what protections are afforded to those who report. An analysis of how well the reporting laws work includes a tabulation of the number of abused and/or neglected children reported to the North Carolina Central Registry annually, July 1971-June 1983, as well as total number of deaths each year attributable to abuse or neglect. Copies of selected statutes, with amendments through the 1983 Session of the North Carolina General Assembly, are provided along with a table comparing features of the child and adult reporting laws. A separate 1985-86 update contains changes in reporting requirements enacted by the 1985 General Assembly and a summary of nonlegislative developments relating to liability for failure to comply with the reporting law. (VW)