Reporting Child Abuse - Mandatory Reporting

In 1974 Congress enacted the first Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA; Public Law 93-247) that set guidelines for the reporting, investigation, and treatment of child maltreatment. States had to meet these requirements in order to receive federal funding to assist child victims of abuse and neglect. Among its many provisions, CAPTA required the states to enact mandatory reporting laws…

Reporting Child Abuse - Who Reports Child Maltreatment?

Reporting Child Abuse - Failure To Report Maltreatment

Many states impose penalties, either a fine and/or imprisonment, for failure to report child maltreatment. A mandated reporter, such as a physician, may also be sued for negligence for failing to protect a child from harm. The landmark California case Landeros v. Flood et al. (17 Cal. 3d 399, 551 P.2d 389, 1976) illustrates such a case. Eleven-month-old Gita Landeros was brought by her mother to t…

Reporting Child Abuse - Why Mandated Reporters Fail To Report Suspected Maltreatment

Gail L. Zellman and C. Christine Fair conducted a national survey to determine why mandated reporters may not report suspected maltreatment ("Preventing and Reporting Abuse," The APSAC Handbook on Child Maltreatment, 2nd ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 2002). The researchers surveyed 1,196 general and family practitioners, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, clinical…

Reporting Child Abuse - Pediatricians

Pediatricians, typically the first professionals to come into contact with a maltreated child, may hesitate to report suspected abuse because they fear offending the parents who pay the bills and who may spread rumors about their competence, potentially damaging their practice. Some fear the time lost in reporting abuse, the possibility of being sued by an outraged parent, or having to testify in …

Reporting Child Abuse - Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner

A sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) is a registered nurse trained in forensic (using science to study evidence of a crime) examination of sexual assault victims. The SANE program emerged in the 1990s in response to the need for a more thorough collection of evidence, as well as compassionate care for the victim and better prosecution of the perpetrator. It has been recognized that, in the past,…

Reporting Child Abuse - Educators

Reporting Child Abuse - A Need For Family Violence Education Among Physicians

Although child abuse is a well-documented social and public health problem in the United States, few medical schools and residency training programs include child abuse education and other family violence education in their curricula. The Committee on the Training Needs of Health Professionals to Respond to Family Violence of the Institute of Medicine examined the curricula on family violence for …

Reporting Child Abuse - Psychologists Lack Child Maltreatment Training

The American Psychological Association (APA) believed that, because psychologists are likely to encounter cases of child maltreatment in their practice, training in this area is very important. In 2003 the APA sought to gain information on the type and amount of training psychologists receive regarding child maltreatment in APA-accredited doctoral programs (Kelly M. Champion, Kimberly Shipman, Bar…

Reporting Child Abuse - Child Protective Services

Partly funded by the federal government, child protective services (CPS) agencies were first established in response to the 1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA; Public Law 93-247), which mandated that all states establish procedures to investigate suspected incidents of child maltreatment. Upon receipt of a report of suspected child maltreatment, CPS screens the case to determine …

Reporting Child Abuse - Cps System Under Siege

Child welfare caseworkers perform multiple tasks in the course of their job. Among other things, they investigate reports of child maltreatment, coordinate various services (mental health, substance abuse, etc.) to help keep families together, find foster care placements for children if needed, make regular visits to children and families, arrange placement of children in permanent homes when they…

Reporting Child Abuse - Cps's Perception Of Racial Disparity In The Child Welfare System

In 2003 the Children's Bureau released the first study of its kind to explore the attitudes and perceptions of CPS personnel regarding the over-representation of minority children, particularly African-American children, in the child welfare system (Susan Chibnall, Nicole M. Dutch, TABLE 3.5 Brenda Jones-Harden, Annie Brown, Ruby Gourdine, Jacqueline Smith, Anniglo Boone, and Shelita S…