> If you make a report, and those reports are valid but ignored, they can be sued and the city or organization becomes liable because they were negligent. A judge decides damages which impact ongoing budgets.

It isn't just about legal liability, it is also about politics.

Suppose a child is abducted/murdered/etc. Turns out some concerned bystander saw something suspicious and called the police, but the police decided not to follow up. Even if the police aren't legally liable, once the media and politicians are done with the story, the general public will be so outraged, decent odds the chief of police will be forced to resign. You can say this is a very rare scenario and almost never happens, but government culture encourages risk-aversion – especially when it comes to children – so they'll worry about the risk, they'll overestimate it – and then they'll craft policies based on it.