School’s Mandated Reports Shield It From Liability

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….

The most recent APSAC Advisor has an excellent article about an important issue — the myth that mandated reporters are immune from liability for reporting their suspicions of child abuse. Every training I have ever attended has reassured mandated reporters that they will face no repercussions from making a report. That information is flat-out wrong…

Mandated reporter training often tells people that mandated reporters are immune from suit. That training is not completely accurate, because most statutes only protect good faith reports. To avoid immediate dismissal, a plaintiff’s attorney need only allege that the mandated reporter acted in bad faith. In such cases, the mandated reporter eventually may be exonerated,…

Organizations that work with teenagers face questions of sexual behavior in several different situations. The most common issues that I see are (1) “sexting,” or sending sexually explicit photos to each other, (2) horseplay that turns sexual, and (3) consensual sex. Whether these require a report to authorities or only an internal response depends on…

A mother in Massachusetts is still asking questions after her 6-year-old son’s school reported him to law enforcement and child protection authorities for inappropriately touching another child in his classroom. Because the two children were of different races, many advocates have used it as an example of racism. What I believe actually happened, however, is…