Intro
Reporting Requirements
Types
Talking to
a Youth
Making the
Report
Conclusion
Other Special Considerations
Disabilities
Bias
Threats of School Violence
Substance Abuse
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Children/Youth With Disabilities
As a Mandated Reporter, there are important factors to take into consideration when working with a child who has a disability. Here are a few points to think about:
- Based on available data, just over 1/3 of the children in Wisconsin’s Child Welfare System have a disability.*
- Children with disabilities are more likely to have repeated contacts with the child welfare system.*
- Child abuse and neglect may look different in children with disabilities than children without a disability. Pay attention to changes in behavior in addition to physical appearances.
- But just like all children, if you suspect abuse or neglect you should report.
*Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Report on Children with Disabilities in the Child Welfare System Report (2016)
- Lack of services or supports to meet the family’s and child’s needs. This can mean more demands and stress on the child’s parents or caregivers.
- Greater financial stress on the family due to the cost of meeting the child’s unique needs. Not all of the child’s unique needs may be fully covered by other funding sources.
- Increased risk of social isolation for the child or family. There may not be respite care or in-home supports, and sometimes other families may not be comfortable with or interested in socializing with the child and/or the family.
- More dependence on paid and informal caregivers for the child’s care. This can include the child’s intimate personal care that can create potential opportunities for abuse.
- Children with disabilities are more likely to be in situations in schools and in the community where they are physically isolated with limited oversight. This isolation can create potential opportunities for abuse.
- The child may have more limited ability to self-protect and self-advocate. This can increase the risk of the child being targeted by some maltreaters.
- Perceptions that a child with a disability may not be viewed as credible by law enforcement or other professionals. This may inhibit individuals from reporting possible child maltreatment.
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Avoiding Bias
When determining whether to make a report on an individual or family, it is sometimes easy to allow your pre-existing biases to get in the way.
As a mandated reporter, however, it is important that you avoid letting bias influence your decision-making about whether to report suspected child maltreatment.
Image by Rosa Sheng
Remember that just because a parent or caregiver has a different way of parenting or taking care of a child than you are used to doesn’t mean that they are committing child maltreatment. Your decision to report or not to report should be based on the factors that we have discussed in this training—whether the conduct falls into one of the categories of maltreatment or whether the youth is exhibiting signs of maltreatment—and not on who the child and family are or their race, religion or ethnicity.
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Threats of School Violence
In addition to being obligated to report suspected child maltreatment, as a Wisconsin Mandated Reporter you have an obligation under state law to report threats of school violence to law enforcement.
You need to make a report if you:
Believe in good faith, based on a threat made by an individual seen in the course of your professional duties, regarding violence in or targeted at a school, that there is a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a student, school employee, or the public.
There are additional specific provisions of this law that only apply to people who are court-appointed special advocates or members of the clergy. If you fall into one of these categories, you can learn more about your obligations by going to this link.
The way in which threats of school violence must be reported is slightly different than reporting of child maltreatment. There is a separate training available that is specific to reporting threats of school violence.
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Substance Abuse
Although caregiver substance abuse will generally not be an issue that arises in the facility setting, it may come up during intake or in other limited circumstances.
If you would like to review this topic in more depth, please visit the Special Considerations Relating to Substance Abuse section of the general audience mandated reporter training. (Note: link opens in new window. Return to this window when ready to continue.)
Make sure to visit all the tabs before continuing the course!