Mandatory Reporting

[Muttsy]

More bad publicity helping tube the BSA-LDS 250M deal. https://apnews.com/article/Mormon-church-sexual-abuse-investigation-e0e39cf9aa4fbe0d8c1442033b894660

[yknot]

1 hour ago, Muttsy said:

More bad publicity helping tube the BSA-LDS 250M deal. https://apnews.com/article/Mormon-church-sexual-abuse-investigation-e0e39cf9aa4fbe0d8c1442033b894660

I don't recall specifics and can't find the thread -- maybe because it happened in one of those tangential discussions -- but a year or so ago people were trying to clarify mandatory reporting requirements and there were a lot of comments to this effect. Sadly, it's not really new just not well publicized. 

[T2Eagle]

11 hours ago, yknot said:

I don't recall specifics and can't find the thread -- maybe because it happened in one of those tangential discussions -- but a year or so ago people were trying to clarify mandatory reporting requirements and there were a lot of comments to this effect. Sadly, it's not really new just not well publicized. 

I just double checked, and as near as I can tell scout leaders in my state, Ohio, are not mandatory reporters.  I know the YP training says we are, and maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see scout leaders on this list.

https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/laws-policies/state/?CWIGFunctionsaction=statestatutes:main.getResults

I'd report anyway, AND I fall under one the other categories not related to scouting.  

[skeptic]

58 minutes ago, T2Eagle said:

I just double checked, and as near as I can tell scout leaders in my state, Ohio, are not mandatory reporters.  I know the YP training says we are, and maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see scout leaders on this list.

https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/laws-policies/state/?CWIGFunctionsaction=statestatutes:main.getResults

I'd report anyway, AND I fall under one the other categories not related to scouting.  

Why would we need a state law to mandate what is obviously needed?  And that can apply to the distant past too.  Why was the general public attitude so misdirected?  Protection of the innocent should not need to be a point of legal law, only moral law.  And, that too is part of the basic foundation of real Scouting, as well as most belief systems.

 

[T2Eagle]

I split this topic off before RS chastises us all.

7 hours ago, skeptic said:

Why would we need a state law to mandate what is obviously needed?  And that can apply to the distant past too.  Why was the general public attitude so misdirected?  Protection of the innocent should not need to be a point of legal law, only moral law.  And, that too is part of the basic foundation of real Scouting, as well as most belief systems.

 

The sheer volume of failure clearly shows that the laws are needed, but they are actually very unusual laws.  In what other instance are you required to report a crime that you SUSPECT might have occurred, and subject to penalty if you fail to do so? You're not required to report crimes against yourself; you can be assaulted, robbed, stabbed, suffer property damages, etc., and you are under no obligation to report it.  Laws generally prohibit actions, describe things that you can not do, but there are very few laws that say what you must do, few instances where we allow the government to command us to a particular action.  

And it's no small thing to decide to bring the weight of the state down upon a person or family based on a suspicion.  Abuse investigations are intrusive and disruptive, and if not done exceedingly competently can in fact harm the family or the child, especially if the suspicion is mistaken and no abuse has occurred.  Children may be taken away from their parents and placed in care for weeks or months while an investigation grinds away. Investigators may speak to neighbors, teachers, employers, etc.  Employment can be disrupted or lost; reputations and relationships damaged beyond repair; and as I mentioned in another thread, law enforcement has no special powers of discernment.  They don't have a magic eight ball that tells them if someone is lying, and the end of their investigation is never a full exoneration.  They never say no abuse occurred. They can only conclude that they have no evidence that abuse occurred, and they don't back and tell everyone they spoke with, "we were wrong, this person was always innocent."

We've probably all seen the instances where authorities were called in because a child or children were playing alone in a park or just walking down a street --- a circumstance that was the absolute norm when I was kid.  Those families and those kids suffered as a result of that intrusion.

Having said all that, we have as a society decided that the risks of all these things are worth it to protect kids from what is probably the single worst thing that can be done to them.  I think that's the right decision, and it was driven by what you rightly describe as moral failings.  As we've seen in our own organization, massive moral failings, not to be excused by notions of 'society was different', or 'we didn't understand.'  

[RememberSchiff]

14 minutes ago, T2Eagle said:

I split this topic off before RS chastises us all.

Oh, my mistake . Thanks.

FYI  @T2Eagle   another potential new topic, Ohio House Bill 709.

Edited August 5, 2022 by RememberSchiff