Child Abuse09 Suspected Child Abuse Reporting You Must Know

Do you know the main factors regarding child abuse prevention?

This article is about our 09 things you must know about mandatory reporting.

Basically the issue with mandatory reporting has taken a heightened awareness of some subsequent to the child abuse scandal and the claims against public entities.

The United States has been on a meteoric rise ever since we’re seeing settlements and verdicts surrounding these losses escalating at an extremely rapid pace and consistently reaching and exceeding a million dollars per claim.

What we’re seeing is the California Superior Court juries being punitive in their message and their verdict decisions make it clear that these incidents are intolerable especially in instances where there has been the appearance of failure to act or recognize such abuse.

The common denominator we’re seeing for liability exposures and high claim severity has been district failure to act in a report upon notice of complaint to local law enforcement and Child Protective Services in a case where complaints have been made quite often.

The districts are conducting internal investigations without reporting this is in direct violation of the California mandatory reporter law and the subjects the entity himself insurance pool to liability exposure with little to no defense in addition to the fiscal impact on districts and self-insurance pools.

The human resource cost of these claims have significant reaching impacts in terms of district management and employee time required in the litigation process also there’s negative media attention and the defense of the districts in management reputation in the court of public opinion.

National research has concluded that less than 10 percent of abusers are ever caught or identified. The state of California requires districts to have employees acknowledged sign off at the time of employment that they are a mandatory reporter that is the extent of the requirement.

There is currently no requirement for volunteers nor is there any training requirement for district employees under state or federal law that addresses mandatory reporting.

What we’re seeing in case of suspected child abuse report?

Local law enforcement and district attorneys have started to take criminal action against district employees that fail to report under mandatory reporter laws to prosecutions for failure to report are owed to my goal is to educate districts to get all district employees trained annually mandatory reporting and increase the awareness on the serious issue so that the frequency and severity of claims is reduced.

So I have developed the following simple and effective training tool resource for districts to use and implement. I’m now going to demonstrate just how simple and easy this training can be.

I know we have many districts on here as well as many public agencies and there’s a lot of entities within the municipality world that deal with children so this is applicable.

Let’s go ahead and get started the campaign you must know about mandatory reporting regarding suspected child abuse.

1. Who works for the organization being a reporter?

2. What is reportable?

3. What to do if you suspect child abuse?  

4. Where do I find this report?

5. Can I share this report with others or can I give a copy to my coworker?

6. What is your protection as a mandated reporter?

7. What if I choose not to report?

8. When does ChildLine accept reports of suspected child abuse?

9. What are the tips for self-protection?

Who works for the organization being a reporter?

You are a mandated reporter anyone who works for the organization should keep their eyes and ears open to protect children.

This has to become a culture shift in our society today with safety.

Years ago we used to push the fact that we need to wear seatbelts but we raised a generation where you get in the car and you put on a seatbelt there’s just a culture shift.

It’s just what we do now the same thing with reporting what we or what we suspect whether it all takes a village we are all in this together with one goal and that goal is to protect the children from abuse and from misconduct so no longer is it.

It’s not an excuse; you are a mandated reporting system suspected child abuse.

It’s part of your job not reporting suspected child abuse to create a liability for your organization and for yourself again our primary goal is to keep our children safe so anyone listening is a mandated reporter.

What is reportable?

If you reasonably suspect of child abuse any of the following you need to report it.

This would include child abuse neglect physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual activity between a minor and an adult unjustified punishment, unlawful corporal punishment, willful cruelty.

Oftentimes we hear people say I didn’t report it because it was just a rumor when it comes to rumors if you are unsure.

It is always best to err on the side of caution report it and let the agency investigate it and make the final conclusion.

What to do if you suspect child abuse?  

The answer to that is immediately or as soon as possible there are two actions that have to be taken in order to report suspected child abuse.

First and foremost as soon as possible by phone you want to call your local Child Protective Services in your area or your local police or your local sheriff’s department.

I’ve had people ask can we report to both yes a best practice might report it to both you cannot get in trouble for that no harm.

Please note that reporting it to school police does not qualify.

So we’re asking that by phone the law says local Child Protective Services or your local police or local sheriff’s department.

The second action you must take is that you have to submit a written follow-up report within 36 hours by fax or by email to the same agency you contacted by phone.

So remember telling your supervisor does not satisfy your obligation to report telling the school policy does not satisfy your obligation to report.

Two actions, one is by phone Child Protective Services or the local police have to be followed up with a written report within 36 hours.

Where do I find this report?

This report is also called form 85 72 it is called the scar report. SCAR stands for Suspected Child Abuse Report you can find it on the Child Protective Services.

It should be on the website of your district or your organ nation.

It’s a very simple form to fill out and what you’ll need is your name and the child’s name, the location of the child where are they typically, what school do they go to, what greater they end, who are the involved parties, what happened, why do you have the concern as the best practices you may want to keep a record of the date, the time and the person you spoke to when filing that report name.

Can I share this report with others or can I give a copy to my coworker?

The answer is no.

The report can only be given to certain designated entities.

The report should be only given to the agency that you called in to so it can only be given to the police or the Sheriff’s Department or Child Protective Services if your organization has got a policy on who is designated if you have a report then you can only give it to those designated people this might mean in a school district that they said.

It’s okay to give it to a superintendent or the assistant superintendent in a public agency.

It may be the Human Resources administrator but do not give the report to any others without consulting legal counsel or you may lose your immunity.

What is your protection as a mandated reporter?

Your identity will be kept confidential know that if the case is criminally prosecuted if they investigate and it goes to criminal prosecution then your identity most likely will be disclosed.

You also have immunity mandated reporters under United States law from civil and the criminal liability for reporting suspected child abuse.

So again we need to report that stuff we need to change our culture and realize we are all the eyes and ears and the method of protecting our children.

What if I choose not to report?

The answer to that is a mandated reporter who knowingly and willfully fails to report is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This is punishable by up to six months in jail, a fine of $1000 or both other possible implications of knowledge about child abuse suspecting it and failing to report it would be a loss of your license could be a loss of your credentials a civil lawsuit and the loss of your job, so if you suspect if you need to report it.

When does ChildLine accept reports of suspected child abuse?

ChildLine is a child protective system program which is established to receive the complaints of child abuse when suspected and inform the concerned agency to investigate the matter. This service is serving 24/7 to ensure the proper protection of the children.

You need to remember that you find a statement those working with and around children are required to sign a statement that they’ve got knowledge of their mandatory reporting requirements and obligations you must remember your signed document is in your personnel file and this document states that you as an employee you know that reporting suspected child abuse.

This part of your job and you know that if your obligation to go ahead and report any misconduct or any child abuse.

What are the tips for self-protection?

Here are a few common sense tips on self-protection we want to avoid a situation that could lead to fraudulent allegations of any kind of inappropriate conduct.

To avoid child contact that involves hugging and touching grabbing or rubbing or massaging.

These are just asking for trouble.

When privacy with children is necessary to leave the doors and windows open whenever possible closed windows closed doors can put doubt into somebody’s mind man make it more than it is.

So always transparency is best for teachers classroom arrangements should not have a sectioned off area for privacy.

These are just a few tips on how to help you avoid a situation that can lead to a fraudulent allegation if you need more information on your duty to report or any other information on suspected child abuse reporting the United States Department of Social Services has a website that has a lot of information you can find on the child abuse and neglect Reporting Act and this is also called camera.  

You may hear that word often and the child California child abuse and neglect reporting law has gotten issues and answers from mandated reporters section and I put the link to that PDF up there as well bottom line we all have to remember it is lower obligation not to ignore suspected child abuse and misconduct report it to the proper authorities.