[Publib] parent abusing child

[Ryan]

I am on the board of our local public library.  Mostly I lurk on this 
list and learn a lot.

I am also a family physician, so I could not resist commenting on this 
thread.

Child abuse reporting laws vary by state, and this is a nationwide list. 
  At least in NYS, librarians are not "mandated reporters" to Child 
Protective Services.  [School librarians, I'm not so sure--they may be.] 
  As citizens, librarians are, of course, free to report if they wish. 
In NYS, mandated reporters must give their names, etc; non-mandated 
reporters do not, although they may if they wish.

There are two different issues here:  reporting the child protective 
services (CPS) versus calling police.  In NYS, CPS has 24 hours or so to 
make first contact with the subject of the report.  So don't count on 
CPS for a time-critical response.  As the NYS child abuse telephone 
hotline begins (paraphrasing):  "If you are calling about a child 
currently being abused or endangered, or a child found left alone, hang 
up and call the police."  The police provide time-critical protection 
and safety; CPS does not (cannot, logistically.)

As for holding a behaviorally-decompensating autistic child upside down, 
I doubt the wisdom of that strategy.  Though I don't doubt that a parent 
might have been advised to do so.

If you notice a situation between a parent and a child escalating, and 
tension mounting, sometimes an empathetic, "They certainly can be a 
handful at this age, can't they?  Can I help you with anything?" is 
worth a try.

Found this on the masskids website that someone already referred to:

http://www.masskids.org/pcama/pca_help3.html

--Chris Ryan

Jennifer Inglis wrote:
> 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
> 
>