Youth-serving organizations take on a serious responsibility when they open their doors to children and other vulnerable people. Fulfilling that responsibility well requires two things working together: a safety culture strong enough to prevent harm, and independent investigations credible enough to find the truth when someone alleges mistreatment.
Youth Services Law covers both. Posts examine the legal landscape, practical decisions, and organizational choices that shape how schools, camps, churches, colleges, faith-based groups, and community organizations protect the people in their care and respond when something goes wrong. The goal is the same in every post: precise, useful guidance for child protection and investigations.
Hot weather is coming, and with it we will hear more stories about kids left behind on busses and vans. It’s always a frightening event, and sometimes fatal. The greatest danger comes from sleeping or otherwise quiet children that the driver overlooks before locking up the bus. Now is a good time to review your…
Many people think that all youth-serving organizations must follow a rule requiring two adults in any activity involving children. It is a common rule, but it is not a standard requirement for one simple reason — many organizations cannot afford it. Such a rule only works when there are plenty of trained volunteers to care…
It’s not unusual for youth organizations to hear from law enforcement investigating crimes against children who are in our care. Sometimes, they are looking into incidents that happened elsewhere, but many times they are investigating claims of injuries in our programs. The officers may request video, staff interviews, or staff/student contact information. In my experience,…
An interesting study from Israel illustrates one of the core flaws that I have found in mandated reporting laws, which is that the emphasis on shifting the report to law enforcement doesn’t offer sufficient help to either the reporters or the victims. Law enforcement is good at one thing — prosecuting crimes — and it…
I often find myself in a case opposing a party who has designated his or her or a child’s treating therapist as an expert witness on various forensic issues. This arrangement is rarely, if ever, a good idea. I understand the temptation to save money by hiring one person instead of two. But a treating…
A fascinating and well-written federal court opinion explores the limits of university authority over a professor’s free speech. Nathaniel Hiers was an adjunct professor at the University of North Texas, and ran across a stack of pamphlets in the faculty lounge warning against various phrases that could be “microaggressions.” Hiers jokingly stuck a flyer on…
In this series, I have been discussing considerations that come into play when we need to depose children. The final, and for many lawyers the most frightening, issue in deposing children is how to ask questions of children. Like many tasks, it is more frightening than difficult. Fortunately, many other people have faced this same…
As I discussed in my last post, courts generally allow depositions of children who may have relevant information. That right is not boundless, however, and courts have the right to set conditions to reduce the stress and trauma to the child. Courts that have allowed depositions have either set the conditions themselves or required the…
One dilemma that lawyers confront is when and how to depose children. Sometimes, those children are the professed victims in litigation; other times they are fact witnesses. Quite often lawyers for the child’s family will resist a deposition, citing the potential for psychological trauma. Most courts that have considered the question have found a right…
One well-known problem in the child welfare field is that children who suffer abuse are at much higher risk of being victims of violence later in life. There are a myriad of theories about why that happens and very few evidence-based answers. A recently-published study from Australia offers a few helpful clues. The study looked…