Child protection? Help!

Hunter1 · May 2004

Fortunately, in all my years in this business I haven't been in this situation before, so I could use some help; here's what I've been told:

Female ee goes to another female ee 'in confidence' and tells her there has been abuse of children in her home consisting of the following: husband has been 'choking child' when she entered room but ceased immediately when she entered. Husband has struck child hard enough on the behind to leave welts. Children are just under and over 10. That's all I know about the alleged abuse from the second employee.

I know from other sources that there have been family problems and both spouses have been involved in counseling recently, probably ongoing.

We employ both spouses, if it makes any difference, and I know that all I have to do is walk down to our PD and drop the name and it'll start the 'official ball rolling'.

Do I approach the person making the allegations, just go to the PD? HELP

Crout · May 2004

Your information is hearsay and if you run to the PD you will put your company at risk. Officially you should do nothing beyond advising the EE who came forward to contact the proper authorities. Unofficially, if I were in your shoes I would file an anonymous complaint with the PD and your State or local Child Welfare Office.

sonny · May 2004

I recall a heated debate on this or a similar case a while back. I think i recall some felt that if the charges were not true, and the person was innocent, it was not fair to turn them in on hearsay. Others felt there was no choice but to go to the authorities given there are children involved. Personally, I would do as Crout suggests and call the authorities

deniseE · May 2004

An annon. call to the authorities will ease your conscience and keep the company out of the fray...everyone wins. these things are never easy, but if something happens and nothing was said, you'll feel guilty.

Don D · May 2004

Skip the police. Report it to the child protective services division of your human services/welfare department. And I would caution you to not send any signal to the tipster that you did that. Tipsters have a notorious flare for doing the 180 degree twist.

Beave · May 2004

I'd also advise as Crout did. Refer the person who approached you to make the contact with the proper officials. We did indeed address a similar thread about three or four months ago. If you do a search on this site, you should be able to find it. As I recall, opinions varied greatly and got somewhat heated at times over the alleged abuse of children.

marc · May 2004

Don is right. Call Child Protective Services. Tell them exactly what you told us. They are trained to work through the real abuse cases and those that are "hearsay." Children in jeopardy is not acceptable, they cannot speak for themselves.

If there is no abuse, child protective services will find that out and move on. If there is abuse, you may have saved the lives of two children and a mother. In fact, with proper treatment, you may have saved a family.

Give the kids a chance, report the conversation.

TLC Shelly · May 2004

It is not your responsibility to decide if abuse is happening. But as a citizen, it is your responsibility to notify the people who can investigate and make that decision. You can report it without your name or company being identified.

Our company works with both elderly adults and disabled/delayed children. We have reported families to either child welfare or elder services, sometimes anonymously and sometimes using our name.

No need to involve the person making the allegations. If they reported it to you, they evidently felt it needed to be addressed.

Child protection? Help!

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