[Publib] parent abusing child

[marsha at poetshouse.org]

By all means make it the subject of a staff meeting but also report the
incident to child protective services. There have been too many times when
waiting, or thinking someone else will report it, has resulted in greater
harm or death to the child.

It sounds as if other staff members were witness to this behavior? You
should feel more comfortable reporting it if you have others who can back
you up. You can meet with those staff members before calling the
"authorities" but don't let too much time pass. I agree with the person who
said that this is not a privacy issue but a possible criminal offense.

Marsha Howard,
Poetry in the Branches Coordinator
Poets House
(and retiree of NYPL)

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Kathryn Bloomberg - Rissman kbr at ci.upland.ca.us
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 15:55:06 -0700
To: jinglis at ocln.org, publib at webjunction.org
Subject: RE: [Publib] parent abusing child


You may want to have someone from child protective services (or whatever
it's called in your City) come to a staff meeting and talk about
when/how to report abuse or suspected abuse.  I've found them to be
willing to come talk and very informative.

Kathy Bloomberg-Rissman
Director
Upland Public Library
Upland, CA

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Jennifer Inglis
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 2:51 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] parent abusing child

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

 

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