[Publib] parent abusing child

[Karen Mahnk]

Any kind of physical, combative behavior is a violation of  most
libraries' policies.
If you saw one adult patron do that to another - would you not call it assault?
For goodness sake, if it looks like a duck & walks like a duck  - it's
abuse - Let the police make the intervention &  professionals/family
services make the final determination. Children are murdered daily in
the course of being abused.

You may never know if you are the last witness to that child being alive.

None of us like to think that adults - particularly parents -  can be
so brutal but it occurs daily.
 As someone else mentioned, teachers, librarians, nurses, others are
REQUIRED to report such crimes under penalty of law - not to mention
one's conscience...
The most well known case in NY was Lisa Steinberg, who went to school
daily w/bruises but teachers did nothing because the parents were
affluent/ - a lawyer & writer.. the little girl was killed by her
mother  - a victim of domestic violence herself while Lisa's younger
brother was well treated/not abused.

Karen Mahnk,
Reference Librarian
Lake Park Public Library
529 Park Avenue
Lake Park, Fl., 33403
561 881-3330 Fax: 561881-3336
kmahnk at lakeparkflorida.gov
www.lakepark-fl.gov



On 10/2/07, Judy Anderson <libraryanna at msn.com> wrote:
>
> Abusive people don't have rights to privacy with regards to doctors and
> clergy, so they definitely wouldn't in this case.
>
> Call the police.
>
> If you witnessed other crimes in the library, like a robbery or a drug deal,
> would you hesitate to report it?
>
>
> Judy Anderson
> Washington
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>
>
>
>
>
> >From: "Jennifer Inglis" <jinglis at ocln.org>
> >To: <publib at webjunction.org>
> >Subject: [Publib] parent abusing child
> >Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 17:51:17 -0400
> >
> >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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