Work's Child Protection Policy

[fireheart17]

I can understand the reason behind this, but it still frustrates the absolute fuck out of me and a few of my colleagues.

Short version: I work for an after-school care program. We run in both public and private schools across the state in the afternoons and (where there is demand) in the mornings.

As part of our job, we're required to go through Mandatory Reporting training. Basically, if we hear/see any abuse between parent-child, we're meant to report it. This can also come from the child's mouth or be actually witnessed.

The regular ruling is that if we see/hear something about it, we report it. Simple.
Work's policy however? Inform management, who then need to inform higher management. Higher management will then make the report on our behalf. Given there are certain circumstances where the child needs to be removed from home immediately, the delay in actually making said report is a little frustrating.

This was triggered in part by a report that had to be made today by my manager at the site I was at today. One of our sweetest and kindest kids at the service made a somewhat offhand comment that a parent had slapped him. Further questioning revealed that it wasn't a smack on the bottom, I'm talking collar/chest etc. I got stuck as a witness, as did my CW.

I also have a child at another service who is currently being emotionally abused/manipulated by his foster parents, who want to give him back
and keep his sister. He's starting to bond with me a little bit now, which is going to make Term 2 a nightmare for him.

[s_stabeler]

That's just going to cause problems- because it gives too many stages at which someone can nix the report. When an annoyingly high number of teachers already use the path of least resistance...

[patiokitty]

As far as I'm concerned the person who witnesses or hears of possible abuse should just go ahead and report it. Screw waiting for a higher up to report it because that just causes more issues and could mean that the child is left in a potentially bad situation that much longer. I have also seen situations where not reporting an incident was done in order to make the organization appear to be some wonderful place, when it was exactly the opposite.

If there is a way to report how your organization handles Mandatory Reporting, do so immediately. They are endangering children with how they are handling the situation now.

[wolfie]

Does the law on mandatory reporting say WHO you are required to report it to, or is it a generic "authorities" (which could include your "chain of command")? I'd approach the group that was brought in to do the training, show them the policy (must have been written down somewhere), and ask them whether the policy is in compliance with the requirements for mandatory reporting. If it is, follow the policy. If it's not, follow the law.

[Rageaholic]

I never understood these kind of policies. If they would just entrust underlings to handle some of these problems that come up, this could go a lot smoother and those in higher positions wouldn't be so overwhelmed. By forcing these decisions up the chain of command, they are not only making more work for everyone else, but they are making it harder to get the problem solved in a timely manner. And in the case of potential child abuse, I imagine there's no time to dick around.

[fireheart17]

Does the law on mandatory reporting say WHO you are required to report it to, or is it a generic "authorities" (which could include your "chain of command")? I'd approach the group that was brought in to do the training, show them the policy (must have been written down somewhere), and ask them whether the policy is in compliance with the requirements for mandatory reporting. If it is, follow the policy. If it's not, follow the law.

It's a bit of both. Teachers are required to report straight to a particular authority, but there's no such clarification for childcare workers.

As far as my mandatory reporting training is concerned, I completed it through the university and he didn't clarify. (added bonus is though, that because I did the full day session instead of the short session, I don't have to sit through the online program again)

I do believe that part of the reason behind the policy is as a means of protection.