[Publib] parent abusing child

[Jennifer Inglis]

Yes, tough subject for the day. 

 

We had an incident (not the first) where a parent was physically assaulting
a child-not spanking, but in one instance a punch.  In today's incident, the
mother pulled a child along the floor by the arm (a bit of a distance), and
then proceeded to twist the child's arm with both hands.  Both of these seem
a bit out of line for general discipline.  My personal opinion is that this
is not normal behavior, but what is my (or my staff's) professional
responsibility in this situation?  No one was comfortable just letting it
go, but we weren't sure if calling the police was within bounds because of
privacy issues (the mother is a patron).  

 

My inclination is to call the police, and I'm looking into a policy
regarding abuse, but it's a line.  We do have a detailed behavior manual,
but it doesn't deal specifically with this issue.  I'd call the police to
find out what they want us to do, but I wanted to check with my peers about
the patron privacy issue.  I've called them for generally disruptive
persons, but not for this particular issue.

 

Thanks for any thoughts,

Jen

 

***************************

Jennifer Inglis, Director

Whitman Public Library

100 Webster Street

Whitman, MA 02832

(781) 447-7613