Anyone in Management or Administrative Positions on the Board Please Read and Respond

#1
LawVol13

LawVol13

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#1
If you are given an allegation of child abuse on the property or building which you have authority, how do you handle that allegation? Simple question with simple answers.
 
#2
#2
Call the police, suspend with pay the accused. Get it off my plate and let the pros handle it.
 
#3
#3
LawVol13 said:
If you are given an allegation of child abuse on the property or building which you have authority, how do you handle that allegation? Simple question with simple answers.
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Am I just a supervisor or am I President/CEO/Main Boss?
 
#4
#4
Thanks for the response, hog. Let's get some more responses in this thread on how this should have been properly handled.
 
#6
#6
Call 1-877-237-0026 to report abuse in TN to Child Protective Services. They also have a web based reporting system. I would suggest telling law enforcement as well as CPS. Cant do too much to protect our children.
 
#7
#7
tim said:
Call 1-877-237-0026 to report abuse in TN to Child Protective Services. They also have a web based reporting system. I would suggest telling law enforcement as well as CPS. Cant do too much to protect our children.
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Would you allow the alleged perpetrator to continue working, or would you put him/her on leave?
 
#9
#9
tim said:
Tricky question. Depends on many variables.
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I can tell you how it works in a school system because my mother was a director of schools and an administrator virtually my entire life. It's SOP to immediately place the person on paid leave. I think that's the only responsible thing that can be done.
 
#10
#10
Absolutely agree with that. It has taken several years to get ours county schools in line with that s o p
 
#11
#11
If I see it first hand, I report it to police. If someone reports an allegation to me, I report it to my boss and let them handle it.
 
#12
#12
LawVol13 said:
I can tell you how it works in a school system because my mother was a director of schools and an administrator virtually my entire life. It's SOP to immediately place the person on paid leave. I think that's the only responsible thing that can be done.
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It's SOP almost anywhere. Call the police/Child Protective Services and place the individual on paid administrative leave immediately. Follow up consistently with the authorities in charge for proper next steps, as well as begin the mountain of paperwork with your HR Director.

HR will take over following up from there, and then more definitive decisions can be made when the alleged case has a more definitive answer.

...and this information is based on a publicly traded company, I can assure you that the SOP is even more stringent for a governmental position.

It is important to note that the steps written in the codes and by-laws must be followed to the T, because if they aren't, you open yourself up to an unbelievable amount of lawsuits.
 
#13
#13
I am a pastor at a local knoxville area church. We have over 450 children in our children's program and right around 200 kids in our middle school and high school programs. We have brought in officers and others with dept of children services, etc to talk to us about these type of situations. We were told for example that a volunteer comes to us and says "I saw Mr Smith and he was abusing Child A." At that very moment we are liable for what we do from then on. Our first step is to call the police immediately and tell them of the situation, who saw the situation, who was involved, the child involved, etc. Second, we tell our direct superior in the church and it is also relayed to the senior pastor immediately...(i.e. if it happens at a lock-in at 3 in the morning you still call and wake people up with the info. You don't wait until the next day.) We also need to write down or understand exactly what was seen and what was shared with us to relay to the authorities. In addition to the calling the police, we must call the dept of child services and report what happened as well. Let me stress this next statement. IT WAS DIRECTLY STATED TO US THAT NO MATTER WHO THE ACCUSATION WAS LEVIED AGAINST, ANY AND ALL ACTIVITY INVOLVING THE ABUSE OF A CHILD MUST BE REPORTED TO THE AUTHORITIES IMMEDIATELY AND THEY WILL THEN INVESTIGATE AS TO WHETHER THE ACCUSATION IF FOUNDED OR NOT. As we have been told and understand, if we hear of anything abusive and do not respond, even if we tell our direct supervisor, we can be held liable in the situation as being criminally negligent. Now this is what we were told. Whether or not that is the law I do not know and I'm not a lawyer. Just stating what speakers have told us in conferences we have held here for our staff members.
 
#14
#14
vols-1 said:
If I see it first hand, I report it to police. If someone reports an allegation to me, I report it to my boss and let them handle it.
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Just to be on the safe side make the call to CPS also if you are put in that situation. You can remain anonymous if you wish.
 
#16
#16
LAJBoys said:
Whether or not that is the law I do not know and I'm not a lawyer. Just stating what speakers have told us in conferences we have held here for our staff members.
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As someone who's job - in part - used to be to put on such conferences for churches . . . There are certain professions that by law are required to report suspicion of abuse. Churches are a little bit of a gray area, so the thinking is to err on the side of vigilance.
 
#18
#18
I'd tell my boss and be done with it. They were probably just playing nekked twister or something.
Not my problem.
 
#19
#19
GAVol said:
As someone who's job - in part - used to be to put on such conferences for churches . . . There are certain professions that by law are required to report suspicion of abuse. Churches are a little bit of a gray area, so the thinking is to err on the side of vigilance.
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I figured it is a little grey area with us being a church...but I would hope that everyone would err on the side of vigilance not just what they are legally bound to do
 
#20
#20
GAVol said:
As someone who's job - in part - used to be to put on such conferences for churches . . . There are certain professions that by law are required to report suspicion of abuse. Churches are a little bit of a gray area, so the thinking is to err on the side of vigilance.
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Interesting, and a bit sad. I would have hoped that churches would be right up there with schools in terms of entities that were required to report. Kids seem to be particularly vulnerable when it comes to adult authority figures in religious settings (including volunteers like teachers in addition to those actually employed.)


eta: by vulnerable, I didn't mean that it's worse in religious settings. I meant that the power dynamic in play in child sexual abuse can be worse in religious settings, in that the molester is an adult AND has some perceived aura of religious authority.
 
#21
#21
LAJBoys said:
I am a pastor at a local knoxville area church. We have over 450 children in our children's program and right around 200 kids in our middle school and high school programs. We have brought in officers and others with dept of children services, etc to talk to us about these type of situations. We were told for example that a volunteer comes to us and says "I saw Mr Smith and he was abusing Child A." At that very moment we are liable for what we do from then on. Our first step is to call the police immediately and tell them of the situation, who saw the situation, who was involved, the child involved, etc. Second, we tell our direct superior in the church and it is also relayed to the senior pastor immediately...(i.e. if it happens at a lock-in at 3 in the morning you still call and wake people up with the info. You don't wait until the next day.) We also need to write down or understand exactly what was seen and what was shared with us to relay to the authorities. In addition to the calling the police, we must call the dept of child services and report what happened as well. Let me stress this next statement. IT WAS DIRECTLY STATED TO US THAT NO MATTER WHO THE ACCUSATION WAS LEVIED AGAINST, ANY AND ALL ACTIVITY INVOLVING THE ABUSE OF A CHILD MUST BE REPORTED TO THE AUTHORITIES IMMEDIATELY AND THEY WILL THEN INVESTIGATE AS TO WHETHER THE ACCUSATION IF FOUNDED OR NOT. As we have been told and understand, if we hear of anything abusive and do not respond, even if we tell our direct supervisor, we can be held liable in the situation as being criminally negligent. Now this is what we were told. Whether or not that is the law I do not know and I'm not a lawyer. Just stating what speakers have told us in conferences we have held here for our staff members.
Click to expand...


Wish you had been the Penn State football coach 10 years ago.
 
#22
#22
I have a sister that works for the state and deals with children 16 and under in roane, morgan, scott, and two other counties that I don't recall. She has told me the procedure for this before, because it is a lot more grey than you think.

If it's a normal child, typical home, then a call to the hot line is perfectly legitimate and virtually the only thing to do. There is no need to reveal your name or anything and you do it there and everything on your end is square (assuming you are not the sole witness or anything).

However, if the child is adopted or a foster kid, things become really tricky legal-wise, especially if the child is nearing age of consent. Reporting it then nearly always will immediately result in the child being taken custody of by the state, no questions asked. The parents (whether found guilty of any crimes or not even accused) will nearly always be blacklisted from adopting or being a foster parent again (even if the child put themselves in the situation without parental knowledge or under the supervision of another adult).

Basically, if it's an adopted/foster kid, you better make damn sure its true, because your just gonna cause even more upheaval in their life than is already there. And if it ends out being not true, there's a good chance you just cost them a decent home.

And I won't even get started on when 16-17 year old foster kids abuse the fact they are almost legal...
 
#23
#23
VolNExile said:
Interesting, and a bit sad. I would have hoped that churches would be right up there with schools in terms of entities that were required to report. Kids seem to be particularly vulnerable when it comes to adult authority figures in religious settings (including volunteers like teachers in addition to those actually employed.)
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Yep . . . That's why Sexual Molestation and Misconduct Liability coverage drives insurance companies crazy in a setting like a church. For the most part, teachers, childcare providers, healthcare providers, law enforcement, mental health providers and social workers are the ones required to report child abuse/neglect. Many churches just don't fit neatly into one of those categories.

I can't tell you how many times I've stood before a group and watched their eyes glaze over as I tried to convince them this is something they really need to put some thought into.
 
#24
#24
GAVol said:
Yep . . . That's why Sexual Molestation and Misconduct Liability coverage drives insurance companies crazy in a setting like a church. For the most part, teachers, childcare providers, healthcare providers, law enforcement, mental health providers and social workers are the ones required to report child abuse/neglect. Many churches just don't fit neatly into one of those categories.

I can't tell you how many times I've stood before a group and watched their eyes glaze over as I tried to convince them this is something they really need to put some thought into.
Click to expand...

I'd imagine they're going to pay a little more attention after this fiasco.
 
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