Mandatory Reporting of Child abuse is not associated with better outcomes for children.

[Danzo]

In the past we discussed whether mandatory Reporting for Clergy (specifically Bishops and other church leaders) was a good thing or a bad thing.   This article illustrates my concern that mandatory reporting may not always be a good thing.  

 

states-find-a-downside-to-mandatory-reporting-laws-meant-to-protect-children

Some excerpts

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There's now a wealth of evidence that demonstrates that more reporting is not associated with better outcomes for children.

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Being reported to child protective services is becoming increasingly common. More than 1 in 3 children in the United States will be the subject of a child abuse and neglect investigation by the time they turn 18, according to the most frequently cited estimate, a 2017 study funded by the Department of Health and Human Services' Children's Bureau.

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In an overwhelming majority of investigations, no abuse or neglect is substantiated. Nonetheless, researchers who study how these investigations affect families describe them as terrifying and isolating.

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In Colorado, the number of child abuse and neglect reports has increased 42% in the past decade and reached a record 117,762 last year, according to state data. Roughly 100,000 other calls to the hotline weren't counted as reports because they were requests for information or were about matters like child support or adult protection, say officials from the Colorado Department of Human Services.

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These calls don't reflect a surge in mistreatment. More than two-thirds of the reports received by agencies in Colorado don't meet the threshold for investigation. Of the children whose cases are assessed, 21% are found to have experienced abuse or neglect. The actual number of substantiated cases has not risen over the past decade.

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While studies do not demonstrate that mandatory reporting laws keep children safe, the Colorado task force reported in January, there is evidence of harm. "Mandatory reporting disproportionately impacts families of color" — initiating contact between child protection services and families who routinely do not present concerns of abuse or neglect, the task force said.

 

[LoudmouthMormon]

lol I can speak personally to things in Colorado.  They push the Safe 2 Tell app so hard on our kids, there's almost a stigma against you if you haven't reported somebody for something.  A few years ago when my youngest was school age, she was talking with friends online.  Discord server or voice chat or some such.  She said goodnight to the chat room and went to bed.  For whatever reason, the way she said good night worried people, and they filed a S2T report, and that's why we had an ambulance at our house 10 minutes later.  

A just and good society needs resources to help kids being abused or neglected.  There's a need for hotlines and reporting mechanisms.   But yeah, you're going to get the occasional false reports.  And you'll get a lot more if you make anonymous reporting easy and "cool".  Children are naturally hyperfocused justice-seekers, and many of 'em see injustice everywhere and in every thing.  

Edited April 25, 2024 by LoudmouthMormon

[bluebell]

I have a niece in the foster care system right now.  Not because of abuse but because she's a new teen making really bad choices but old enough to know that no one can force her to do anything, including go to school, not send illegal pictures of herself to people, not smoke, or choose to come home at night.  (Her mom and dad definitely made bad choices along the way and she's been through some hard stuff and needs some mental help, but she wasn't removed from the home because of neglect or harm)

What I have learned watching this from a distance is that child welfare is overwhelmed, they have an agenda and timelines that don't always match what would actually be best for the child because of their lack of services/funding, and they are organized in such a way that half of the time the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing so that supports in place--like fostering and counseling--don't have enough information or scope to do more than put a bandaid on stuff.

I can imagine how unhelpful it all must be sometimes with kids who actually are being abused and are in harm's way from an adult guardian and the system is all that's standing between the child and ruin.

 

[rpn]

I'll put my pitch in for serving as a foster parent if you can, but that service is pretty darn hard itself because the system isn't particularly good at supporting great parenting (much less what most of us do most of the time which is our best parenting in the moment not to be confused with always something that works for a particular child.)

[bluebell]

1 hour ago, rpn said:

I'll put my pitch in for serving as a foster parent if you can, but that service is pretty darn hard itself because the system isn't particularly good at supporting great parenting (much less what most of us do most of the time which is our best parenting in the moment not to be confused with always something that works for a particular child.)

I'll second.  My sister (her mother) came to us as a foster child when she was 18 months (I was 12) and we were finally able to adopt her when she was 4.  It's an admirable program.

[bsjkki]

I’ve had many friends/cousins look into fostering but not follow through. The process is a bit scary and the rules require sacrificing. I didn’t know you can’t take foster kids out of state for a vacation and that if you had adult children come home for holidays they would have to be screened too. Many are afraid of being unjustly accused of something or realize they should not do this if they have their own children still at home.

[Benjamin McGuire]

17 hours ago, Danzo said:

There's now a wealth of evidence that demonstrates that more reporting is not associated with better outcomes for children.

This is at odds with the title of the thread.

I don't think that anyone disagrees with the idea that expanding mandatory reporting to those without training creates better outcomes for children. There is a lot of evidence that Mandatory reporting of child abuse is associated with better outcomes for children. That is, if we eliminate mandatory reporting altogether, we are very likely to make outcomes worse for children.

Also, being reported  doesn't generally result in an investigation. At least in my area (and I work with the local MDHHS board - Michigan Department of Health and Human Services) the percentage of cases that are actually investigated is quite small. The information I was given at the board meeting I attended yesterday was that state-wide, there is a higher chance of an actual investigation for minority groups - without a corresponding increase in findings of abuse. There was some discussion about the future roll-out of changes in how investigations are triggered after reports are made that will try to take steps to avoid bias in those decisions.

This statement in the article is certainly flawed:

17 hours ago, Danzo said:

While studies do not demonstrate that mandatory reporting laws keep children safe, the Colorado task force reported in January , there is evidence of harm. "Mandatory reporting disproportionately impacts families of color" — initiating contact between child protection services and families who routinely do not present concerns of abuse or neglect, the task force said.

This harm is certainly there. What is wrong is the statement about mandatory reporting keeping children safe. It is clear that when we have substantiated cases that stem from mandatory reporting that the mandatory reporting laws are doing something. The Colorado task force report (linked in this comment) doesn't recommend the elimination of mandatory reporting. The recommendation is:

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The law, though well-intentioned, has been poorly executed for years. If Colorado wants its citizens to report suspected child abuse and neglect competently and responsibly, mandatory reporters must be given the tools to do so. To do anything short of this is to risk child safety, overwhelm child welfare services and continue the disparate impact that such laws have on inadequately resourced communities and families of color.

The article correctly points out that while reporting requirements have grown over the years (which is the reason for the increased reporting), the resources to deal with these reports have not grown. Studies have shown that the reports that come from professional reporters are generally the most accurate - suggesting that when training is put in place, mandatory reporting becomes more effective. The solution is never going to be to eliminate mandatory reporting. The number of substantiated cases hasn't changed much in the last decade (as the article reports), but this means that in Colorado, more than 10,000 child abuse and neglect cases have been substantiated every year for the last decade. What are we going to replace this system of uncovering abuse with? Are we going to rely on law enforcement (that is going to go over really well). Are we willing to write off all those children? The article does quote one advocate of dismantling the reporting system - and this is what they propose:

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"Mandatory reporting is another form of keeping us policed and surveillanced by whiteness," says Jihad, who as a child was taken from the care of a loving parent and placed temporarily into the foster system. Reform isn't enough, she says. "We know what we need, and it's usually funding and resources." Some of these resources — like affordable housing and child care — don't exist at a level sufficient for all the Colorado families that need them, Jihad says.

I'm all for this. I think that we cannot fully address abuse without also working to address those factors that have high correlations with abuse - poverty and its related concerns of affordable housing and affordable child care. Making sure that every Colorado family had adequate housing and child care would, I think, reduce the number of substantiated cases there. But, there seems to be little public will to increase safety nets to the level that would be required for this to be effective.

This article doesn't offer us anything new since the last time that Danzo and I sparred over this topic.

[LoudmouthMormon]

5 hours ago, Benjamin McGuire said:

"Mandatory reporting is another form of keeping us policed and surveillanced by whiteness,"

Ugh.  Kendian Anti-racism is a plague on common-sense approaches to an awful lot of issues humanity has to deal with.