Mandatory Reporting of Abuse in Schools

[PopCulturePooka]

Doing a report about this.

Was wondering your opinions.

If a teacher or school support staff have a strong reason to believe that a student is the victim of abuse or neglect or at risk of harm, or a student has told them they are, should they be required by law to report it, or should it be more an ethical choice?

Bear in mind that students in this case dont usually have a right to privacy if it involves a risk to the student.

I'm off the opinion that it should be mandatroy, as such a requirement would include more legal backups for teachers in the case that the rport turned out to not be accurate. It also removes the moral burden on the teacher, which can cause more stress and anguish in an already demanding profession.

[Kwiz]

This seems to be a good concept, but thinking of and creating protocol for all of those gray-area situations could prove difficult.

[setrict]

It sounds like a good idea, but it would depend a lot on how it was implemented.

In a society where a burglar can sue a homeowner because the owners dog bite him during a break in, I'm not so sure I can trust the interpretation of "victim of abuse or neglect or at risk of harm" to be something I can agree with.

Before I'd support an idea like this, I'd want very specific definitions of "abuse" and very specific methods for the reporting. I'd also make sure there were no incentives other than the ethical and moral ones. Monetary rewards (things like federal or state grant money for number of students 'saved' by the program) have no business in an area that is so delicate and subjective.

[Soli]

That sound good as long as they're positive child abuse is what's happening.

My little brother got a play space kit and it came with a little bottle and something that sucks the air out of the bottle to see what happenes to things in space. He put the thing on his cheek and it made a huge bruise. He thought it was cool so did some more on him arms before my mom caught him. The teaches at school were calling my mom and asking if she hit him. >.<

Although I think most teachers would report it anyways. Teachers aren't usually bad people and for the most part care about their students. Even if one sees it and doesn't report it, there's a chance another teacher will spot it.

[PopCulturePooka]

It sounds like a good idea, but it would depend a lot on how it was implemented.

In a society where a burglar can sue a homeowner because the owners dog bite him during a break in, I'm not so sure I can trust the interpretation of "victim of abuse or neglect or at risk of harm" to be something I can agree with.

Before I'd support an idea like this, I'd want very specific definitions of "abuse" and very specific methods for the reporting. I'd also make sure there were no incentives other than the ethical and moral ones. Monetary rewards (things like federal or state grant money for number of students 'saved' by the program) have no business in an area that is so delicate and subjective.
Of course all teachers would be expected, during pre-service training and regular in-services, to do training sessions about how to recognise abuse and how to deal with the special needs of abused and neglected children. It wouldn't just be a case of 'spot the beaten kid'.

Although training in this should be expected even if theres no mandatory reporting.

Reward? Of course not. It should be an expected part of the teaching profession and part of the teachers duty to protecting the children under thier care. The rewards are better futures for the children, thats all.

My states reporting method involve a form (have a copy sitting here) that the teacher needs to fill out and hand to either the schools principal, guidance officer or in site social worker. That person then decides from their what action to take and how immediate it should be. In my state, if suspected abuse is serious enough an intervention can be organised within two hours.

Legally I see mandatory reporting protecting the teacher. Because they merely report to the next step in the ladder (principal, social worker) and not straight to the police or family services, thats where their buck stops for the time being (besides monitoring). Therefor teachers can report easier and free themselves up from negliegence claims if they suspected and didn't report.

[MNJetter]

Didn't we have a thread a long while back where one of the forum members here was "accused" by someone of having an abusive boyfriend, even though it wasn't true, and ended up going through hell trying desperately to disprove it? I don't remember who it was - so sorry for forgetting your screen name if you're reading, I even remember posting on the thread, but I'm blanking on your screen name.

Anyway....I was told in my state that the teachers actually are required by law to report suspected abuse. Generally, I think it's a good thing, but there can be some cases - like the girl in the thread I mentioned - in which this kind of awareness can turn into paranoia and backfire on everybody.

[Jetsetlemming]

Nah. I'd imagine it'd be covered under some other rule if a teacher sees a kid that's obviously abused and ignores it. Good samaritism, maybe? Possibly criminal neglect or something like that.

[Apotheosis]

I agree with pretty much everything that's been said so far in this thread. My first notion was that I think it should be mandatory for all teachers to report possible cases of child abuse or neglect, but I can also see where the "gray areas," as Kwizard put it, might become a problem in terms of diagnosing such cases, and particularly in enforcing these policies in said schools. The problem with enforcing these policies, as far as I see it, is that if a teacher doesn't observe any possible cases of child abuse or neglect, despite the fact that they may or may not be evident to others, you can't exactly punish the teacher for their non-observance--or at least, I don't feel you should. And if they do observe a possible case of child abuse or neglect, and decide not to report it as such a policy would require them to do, how is anyone going to prove that (that they observed such a case, but didn't report it, I mean), outside of a recording where they specifically admit to knowing of the problem, but not reporting it, or an admission to police or whatever authority (the principal, super-intendant, or school board, I guess)?

So, in effect, the only thing such a policy would do, in my mind anyway, is say, "Hey, if you see a possible case of child abuse or neglect, YOU MUST REPORT IT, but there's no way we can tell whether you're disregarding this policy or not, so just please be nice and report it, eh?"

Didn't we have a thread a long while back where one of the forum members here was "accused" by someone of having an abusive boyfriend, even though it wasn't true, and ended up going through hell trying desperately to disprove it? I don't remember who it was - so sorry for forgetting your screen name if you're reading, I even remember posting on the thread, but I'm blanking on your screen name.
You're thinking of conners, MNJ.
Here's (http://www.outpostnine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4369) a link to the thread if anyone wants to give it a look, just for the heck of it.

[Pierrot le Fou]

No. I would FAR prefer teachers to be incapable of making abuse allegations as an official duty of their position, because attaching their position to it will have unforeseen side effects. If an (abusive) parent knows that their kid's teacher is required by law to report potential abuse, then they are far more likely to keep their child from going to school until the bruises heal or whatnot. Either way you do it, someone loses. I'd rather absolve the teachers of a legal responsibility to disclose, well, essentially baseless allegations.

If you MUST create a system like this, then you should have a simple system where the school nurse is trained in seeing signs of abuse, and teachers with a concern can send a child to the nurse to be checked out, and the nurse can make that call. This can be done in such a way that the child/parents have no idea who made the original assumption that the child was being abused, and lay the entirety of the duty on the nurse -- not on teachers who have too much shit and too many rules to deal with already.

[harper]

It's state law here in Michigan that if a teacher, teacher's aide, school worker etc. has a very good reason to suspect abuse they must report it. The only time that happened to me was when I was student teaching when a girl told me and my supervising teacher about a family situation involving alcohol and drugs. We called the hotline to report it and that's the last I heard about it.

I think it is harder at the high school level to recognize abuse unless the student confides in the teacher. There was a case earlier this year where a girl told two of her teachers about being abused by her stepdad. One of them called the mother rather than reporting it. Several months later the girl tried again with a different teacher who reported it. I think the first two teachers are facing prosecution now for failing to report the abuse.

[PopCulturePooka]

No. I would FAR prefer teachers to be incapable of making abuse allegations as an official duty of their position, because attaching their position to it will have unforeseen side effects. If an (abusive) parent knows that their kid's teacher is required by law to report potential abuse, then they are far more likely to keep their child from going to school until the bruises heal or whatnot. Either way you do it, someone loses. I'd rather absolve the teachers of a legal responsibility to disclose, well, essentially baseless allegations.

If you MUST create a system like this, then you should have a simple system where the school nurse is trained in seeing signs of abuse, and teachers with a concern can send a child to the nurse to be checked out, and the nurse can make that call. This can be done in such a way that the child/parents have no idea who made the original assumption that the child was being abused, and lay the entirety of the duty on the nurse -- not on teachers who have too much shit and too many rules to deal with already.
You're actually closer to what I mean by mandatory reporting than others, in taht the teacher reports to someone else in the school first (eg the principal, guidance office or nurse) who then makes the call on where to go.
Teachers are in the position to make the initial report to this other person because they, of all the school personnel have the greatest contact with kids (in most Aussie schools a Nurse is part time at best, sometimes only doing one day a week).

Its far to much stress on a teacher to need to carry the whole thing, the suspicions themselves, or do the direct reporting. But they should at least have the obligation to pass a suspicion onto someone who can then investigate it further.

[Pierrot le Fou]

I feel like making anything an obligation creates a VERY large spectre over the teaching profession as they become more and more like social workers, and less and less like educators. The more you spread the scope of 'education' to include what used to be considered 'parenting' the more trouble you're going to have in the long run.

Teachers are simply not parents. They cannot be parents. The more we try to get them to act like parents, the less reason there is for the parents to act like parents. It is not the school's job to take over the job of parenting, especially parenting problem children. School is not baby-sitting, it's a place of learning. That should be emphasized, in my opinion, and having enforced tattling is not going to contribute positively.

[Jetsetlemming]

in most Aussie schools a Nurse is part time at best
Same here. I can't comprehend how this is allowed to go on, a nurse is something very handy to have around in a school, with how often kids get sick and hurt themselves.

[japanat]

In Colorado, teachers are required to report signs of abuse to the office, under threat of prosecution and loss of teaching license. They don't investigate it or ask questions, unless the student volunteers info. Then the office has to make the choice of whether to report it (read this as CYOA - they always report it) to the state Social Services, who take it from there.

Having said that, I don't think the teacher should have to do anything beyond that point, that's not where their training or responsibility lies.

Social Services will usually interview the student first, maybe even have them see a doctor, then make the determination if more investigation is required. I worked with a lady whose kids were taken away - and they really needed to be. She really loved her kids, but had absolutely no control of her anger and the kids were in danger.

[Lisa M]

In my state, there are mandatory reporting laws. During the second half of this semester, I'm taking a course on recognizing abuse.

As far as I know, the teacher just puts up the flag - from there, the nurses, guidance counsellors, social workers, principals, etc, take over. Teachers do not deal with the case later, except occasionally as a witness.

[Kass]

No. I would FAR prefer teachers to be incapable of making abuse allegations as an official duty of their position, because attaching their position to it will have unforeseen side effects. If an (abusive) parent knows that their kid's teacher is required by law to report potential abuse, then they are far more likely to keep their child from going to school until the bruises heal or whatnot. Either way you do it, someone loses. I'd rather absolve the teachers of a legal responsibility to disclose, well, essentially baseless allegations.

If you MUST create a system like this, then you should have a simple system where the school nurse is trained in seeing signs of abuse, and teachers with a concern can send a child to the nurse to be checked out, and the nurse can make that call. This can be done in such a way that the child/parents have no idea who made the original assumption that the child was being abused, and lay the entirety of the duty on the nurse -- not on teachers who have too much shit and too many rules to deal with already.


It is already the law in most states, if not all. Any organization that operates in loco parentis (i.e. a school or a day care) is required to report suspicions of child abuse or neglect in most states. Legally, while students are in school or participating in school activities, school administrators and teachers are the legal guardians of those children. They are legally responsible for the safety and welfare of their students. If a child is injured on school property or suffers because of the actions/inactions of its staff, the school can be held liable. That has been that way for decades. There is even case law to back it up.

It is why there are 15 bazillion different health/safety forms for their children that parents have to fill out over the course of the school year. Because they are responsible for the welfare of their students, they have to have adequate information to make emergency decisions upon. School officials can authorize minor medical and emergency medical treatment. The reporting regulations is a CYA policy.

Teachers receive training and refer the children to guidance counselors and adminstrative officials. It isn't like the children aren't given a chance to explain how they took a header over the handle bars of their bike while trying to jump up a curb or whatever.

It is really more of a question of whether or not the policy should continue.

I don't view this as acting as parents since in cases of child abuse, there is no one else to intervene on the child's behalf. If not the teacher, who would notice or know besides the abuser and the family members who allow the abuse to take place? There's no assurance that a neighbor will notice and it isn't like the police routinely inspect school children for suspicious injuries. The children themselves almost never report the abuse on their own.

According to the teachers I've talked to, this requirement, other than a bit of training every couple of years, takes extremely little of their time and attention. They aren't taught or told to check kids over daily, weekly or at all, but rather to speak up if they notice something well out of the ordinary or a pattern of injuries that just doesn't make sense. Really, it is what should be expected of anyone who provides care and supervision for children.

[Pierrot le Fou]

If it should be expected, then why require it legally? Why hang the spectre of legal action for EITHER course on the teachers? Why not make it non-mandatory?

[Kass]

I said why. It's a CYA policy and while it is reasonable to expect it, when was the last time you could depend on someone you don't know well to do the reasonable thing? Our society is made up of people who get some sort of morbid glee out of making personal issues private, but turn a blind eye to genuine problems like abuse.

A lot of reasonable rules are spelled out. No hitting is reasonable, but it is still a written rule. Don't kill peope is a pretty darned reasonable rule, but we still need murder laws.

It's ludicrous to expect that because something is reasonable, it will get done.

[fa11en87]

I feel like making anything an obligation creates a VERY large spectre over the teaching profession as they become more and more like social workers, and less and less like educators. The more you spread the scope of 'education' to include what used to be considered 'parenting' the more trouble you're going to have in the long run.

Teachers are simply not parents. They cannot be parents. The more we try to get them to act like parents, the less reason there is for the parents to act like parents. It is not the school's job to take over the job of parenting, especially parenting problem children. School is not baby-sitting, it's a place of learning. That should be emphasized, in my opinion, and having enforced tattling is not going to contribute positively.


Yes, teachers should not take the place of parents but I personally think it's a different issue. It's not something like regulating what kind of tv programs kids watch or videogames they play.