CADILLAC â Teachers play an important role in family safety. As mandatory reporters, if teachers suspect a child is being hurt or neglected at home, they have to tell the authorities. Over the past year, teachers haven't seen kids in-person as often. Some students are attending school fully virtually. Others see the kids in-person but not as often. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as lockdowns began and schools closed or went virtual, teachers have said they're worried about the kids they don't see. And child abuse experts have said that child abuse reports are going down because teachers aren't seeing the kids and aren't reporting.