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John W. Parker Cascade County Attorney Detective Cory Reeves Great Falls Police Department Tracy Hemry Department of Public Health and Human Services. Mandatory Reporting Issues for High School Employees. Goals.
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John W. Parker Cascade County Attorney Detective Cory Reeves Great Falls Police Department Tracy Hemry Department of Public Health and Human Services Mandatory Reporting Issues for High School Employees
Goals • 1. To Explain and Clarify Your Legal Duty to Report Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect • 2. To Distinguish Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect from the Parallel Duty to Report Crimes Committed in Schools • 3. To Analyze Hypothetical Cases in Order to Develop Shared Understandings of the Law
A Day in Your Life • As a teacher, you are constantly focused on achieving education targets and a host of other issues. You hardly have time for a break. • As a counselor, you are immersed a whole range of challenges your students are facing.
A Day in Your Life • As a food service worker, you have the daily logistical challenge of preparing several hundred nutritious meals. • As an engineer, you have to keep the building clean and orderly and ensure heating systems are running properly.
A Day in Your Life • The point is, we understand your plate is already full before we even get to the issue of mandatory reporting of child abuse. • We want to start this discussion in the context of the realities of your job. • We understand many of the pressures you face on a daily basis.
Child Abuse and Neglect in Cascade County • The incidence of severe child abuse in our community has risen dramatically in recent years • Four child homicides in the past three and a half years • Incidents of infants with broken ribs, toddlers with broken femurs, other physical and sexual abuse—inflicted by adult caregivers
Child Abuse and Neglect in Cascade County • Reported incidents of neglect in our community have also risen. • Youth in Need of Care case filings rose dramatically in 2011: 247 cases in 2011, compared with 152 in 201o.
The Policy Purpose of Mandatory Reporting • Mandatory reporting laws were designed to make sure State social workers and law enforcement have the information they need to help protect kids. • The push for reform began in the early 1960s. Pediatricians led the charge. • Recent tragedies in our community continue to remind us why these laws are necessary.
The Policy Purpose of Mandatory Reporting • We know you are aware of these disturbing cases from media coverage. • We also know that in many cases, these young victims, or their brothers and sisters, are your students. You are personally involved in many cases. • Clearly, we are all in this together.
Montana’s Mandatory Reporting Law: M.C.A. § 41-3-201 • When a mandatory reporter knows or has reasonable cause to suspect, as a result of information received in a professional or official capacity, that a child is abused or neglected by anyone regardless of whether the person suspected of causing the abuse or neglect is a parent or other person responsible for the child’s welfare, they shall report the matter promptly to DPHHS.
You Are Not in This Alone • The duty also extends to social workers, physicians and other health care workers, mental health professionals, child care providers, and law enforcement.
Understanding the Duty • It is NOT your job to investigate or confirm the facts that have been provided to you. • It IS your legal obligation to provide the information to CFSD through the centralized intake number. • Child Abuse Hotline: 1-866-820-5437
Communicating With Your Principal • Relaying the information to your principal does not fulfill your duty to report. • It is a good practice, however, to share the information so the principal can understand the child’s challenges. • In some cases, sharing the info is necessary to ensure security in the school.
A Word on Documentation • The statute does not require you to make a written report • Ask yourself: would you want one if you had to testify in court? • Under the Montana Rules of Evidence, you can make a “refreshing recollection,” but only to a document prepared at the time.
Policy Purpose of Centralized Intake • You may be wondering why you cannot just call the local office directly. • Centralized intake was designed to ensure uniform treatment of the reports across the entire state. • Parents in these cases seem to move frequently. CI ensures a record of complaints despite frequent moves.
What Happens After You Make the Call? • CFSD assesses the threat level. • CFSD social workers are called to respond. • If the evidence shows the children are at risk, they are removed from the home and placed in a secure setting pending further court action.
Your Phone Calls Really Matter • Every time I’ve been called out on a child homicide case, I always call CFSD within the first hour to determine if there has been a history of complaints.
Common Misconceptions • Anonymity will be compromised. • No one will do anything anyway.
Real World Complications • We understand how awkward it is that you’ll be sitting across the table from some of these parents in conferences • We hope you understand that the tension is worth it in the long run
Your Duty to Report Criminal Conduct • In addition to your statutory duty to report child abuse and neglect, you have a duty to report crimes committed on your campus. • If you do not, you could be potentially held liable for negligence.
The Montana Youth Court Act • M.C.A. § 41-5-102 is the declaration of purpose, and seeks to “prevent and reduce youth delinquency through a system that does not seek retribution….” • Rather, accountability, supervision, restitution when necessary. • Detention in only the most limited circumstances.
Scenario 1: • Student who frequently asks other students for food. Hunger complaints. • Wears the same unwashed clothes to school every day for a month. • Tells another student that he or she is the oldest sibling at home, left to care for others while parents are out drinking.
Scenario 1: • This fact pattern constitutes neglect. You should call it in to centralized intake. • The same holds true for cases of medical neglect. • Important reminder: suspicious bruising, broken bone without reasonable explanation, multiple broken bones over time.
Scenario 2: • You smell the strong odor of marijuana emanating from the student’s locker. • After the lunch break, you smell the odor of marijuana smoke coming from the student’s clothing. • Not child abuse or neglect; rather, a violation of law to be reported to your SRO.
Scenario 3: • Locker room situation • One student snaps his friend on the rear with a towel • Horseplay, no intent to injure • Might be disciplinary, might not. But no violation of state law.
Scenario 4: • What is the duty to report a playground fight? • Let’s think through some variations of the situation.
Conclusion • Some of these situations can be a close call, but it is best to err on the side of reporting. • The main point is to ensure that major incidents are appropriately reported to either CFSD or local law enforcment. • Information is the key to protecting children from abuse and neglect!
