A recent news story from Pennsylvania offers an object lesson about what happens when a youth organization forgets that abuse allegations are subject to mandated reporting laws rather than the usual disciplinary procedures. A vice-principal in Altoona has pleaded no contest to recklessly endangering another person and failure to report or refer suspected abuse. The…
A story from Southaven, Mississippi illustrates the importance of good training and policies in how to deal with a dilemma that youth organizations often face — when sexual activity between minors becomes a reportable event. The district attorney has charged a youth minister for failing to make a mandated report. According to the news story,…
A few weeks ago, a judge in Braxton, WV, sentenced Robin James for failing to act on a child’s disclosure. James received the maximum sentence of 4 to 40 years in prison for child neglect after admitting she made “no moves to protect” a minor in her care because she didn’t believe the child’s repeated…
Colorado’s new mandated reporting law highlights a critical question for youth-serving organizations: Do we require staff members to report their concerns internally or require them to go directly to child protection authorities? Until this year, Colorado allowed staff to take concerns to supervisors who in their turn were supposed to contact authorities. Because of concerns…
The Arizona Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion analyzing the intersection of Arizona’s clergy privilege with its mandated reporting law. Three minors brought suit against the Church of Latter-Day Saints and two church bishops, alleging that their father had confessed to the bishops that he had been sexually abusing his children and that, because…
A magistrate judge found a former director of a childcare center in Lynchburg, Virginia guilty of failing to report a staff member’s abuse of children at the center. What makes this an unusual story is that the police also charged three Board members with the same crime. The judge found those members innocent, but once…
North Dakota has changed its requirements for mandated reporting for teachers. As of last Friday, teachers now must have training only before initial licensing rather than every year. The standard training in that state appears to be relatively short and not particularly onerous. But short trainings, while better than nothing, rarely can do more than…
The Minnesota Supreme Court has held recently that Minnesota’s mandated reporting laws apply to disclosures about minors who are now adults. The particular facts involved a disclosure from a client to a therapist during an intake session. The client revealed that he had engaged in sexual contact with his children’s babysitter when she was 17…
Indiana’s governor recently signed an amendment to the state’s mandated reporter law. It has two new provisions that youth organizations in the state need to note when it goes into effect on July 1, 2025. The first change is that it specifically restricts the ability report to a supervisor instead of child protective services or…
A story from California illustrates a couple of important principles that youth organizations should follow when dealing with disclosures of long-ago abuse. In this instance, an adult approached the owner of a gymnastics school and told him that one of the instructors, who was her cousin, had sexually abused her when she was a child….