whateveryparentshouldknow

By Angela Liddle
And Suzanne Yunghans
Lebanon Daily News
Updated: 04/17/2009 11:46:01 AM EDT

The recent not-guilty verdict in a Lebanon County case regarding a physician’s failure to report suspected child abuse generated strong opinions on both sides of the issue. Regardless of what you may think of the action or inaction of the physician, the fact remains that a young child died of child abuse.

As the executive directors of organizations charged with educating mandated reporters on their role and responsibility in reporting suspected child abuse or neglect, we seek this opportunity to share with the public what all of us can do to protect children.

A mandated reporter is someone required by law to report suspected abuse or neglect by virtue of employment that brings that person into regular contact with children — a doctor or nurse, a day-care provider, a health or social-service worker, a teacher or school employee, a law-enforcement officer or a member of the clergy, among others.

In general terms, Pennsylvania enacted the Child Protective Services Law in 1975 to protect children from abuse and neglect. It’s a hard thing to create a law that directly affects how a parent might choose to raise a child, but the sad truth is that too many children are abused and need county child-welfare intervention.

The law says people who come into contact with children (defined as those under age 18) in the course of employment or an official capacity must call the toll-free hotline called ChildLine (1-800-932-0313) whenever they suspect a child is being
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abused.

The key word here is suspicion. According to Webster, suspicion is “the act or instance of suspecting something wrong without proof.” A mandated reporter only has to suspect that a child is being abused.

It is up to a caseworker from a county children-and-youth agency to investigate and determine if the incident meets the definition of abuse or neglect under the law, not the mandated reporter.

One of the failings of the law as currently written is that mandated reporters are not themselves mandated to receive training! There is no legal requirement for these individuals to have any training on how to recognize potential abuse and neglect and their responsibility to report it.

Dr. David Turkewitz, president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician with focused expertise in the area of child abuse, enthusiastically supports required training.

“Mandated-reporter training clarifies responsibilities and helps assure that mandated reporters will report if the standard of a reasonable suspicion is met. The risk of not reporting is possible repeated abuse leading to long-term physical and emotional disability, and even death,” he said.

Free training is available to all mandated reporters through both the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Mandated reporters are not the only ones who can make a report to ChildLine. All residents of Pennsylvania are encouraged to voice their concern if they suspect that a child is being abused or neglected. Remember: You’re not making an accusation — you’re simply stating that a situation needs to be looked at more closely. Looking more closely is the duty of child protective services. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have trained investigators to follow up on reports to ChildLine.

April is Child Abuse Prevention month in Pennsylvania.

“We can think of no better opportunity to reach out to everyone to be vigilant in protecting our children,” said Ruth Williams, president of the PFSA Board of Directors. “The children need our voices to speak for their safety and well-being.”

If you suspect a child is being abused, we urge you to make the call to ChildLine at 1-800-932-0313.

If you would like to receive training in recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect, please contact either of our organizations at http://www.pa-fsa.org/ or http://www.pascan.org.

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Liddle is executive director of the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance. Yunghans is executive director of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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