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Civil action against mandated reported for not reporting child abuse

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angelsdancing4

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? NY

About 5-6 months ago my daughter confided in a staff member @ daycare that she had been molested. The staff member did nothing about it except tell my 10 year old daughter that "you should really be telling your mother this". The staff member knew my daughter had told no one else but her. I later found out that this staff member told another staff member who happens to have been trained "intensly" as they put it in the mandating proceedure, however she also neglected to report the abuse to anyone, instead the original staff member that my daughter confided in went on her honeymoon instead a few weeks later. I found out about the molestation when I was cleaning and found a list of topics my daughter had written of things she wanted to discuss with her counselor and the molestation was on the list. NY state law says the staff can be charged criminally, but the Troopers say they wont be charged but I can take civil action. Why can't they be charged if the law says so? I am going to take civi action on behalf of my daughter but what kind of monetary damages should we be seeking for this type of thing? The person who abused her has been arrested but is only admitting to a 2 instances when it happened over 12 times or more. Any adivse or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 


rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
I think you have some confusion re mandated reporting.

While there may be civil actions re certain mandated reporters, where did you come up with criminal penalties for failure of day care providers staff to report? Please cite the appropriate section of the New York Penal code.

The failure of the "intense"ly trained worker informed 3rd hand is not mandated to report.

If your daughter was compiling a list of things for her "counselor" perhaps she was told to inform a mandated reporter in addition to you if she didn't feel comfortable telling you.

While a mandated reporter is only required to report suspected abuse, they are not required to prove it's validity or to investigate, they also have to have something tangibile to report, it may be that your daughter's report to the care provider lacked enough information to report.

Since there isn't a penal code covering failure to report, that is why the police correctly advised you it was a civil matter and as Steven said, you should consult an attorney who specializes sexual abuse cases which is a very specialized area of law.

Here is an article with many references that may be helpful re mandated reporting, there are links for NY
Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect - Professionals who are licensed in New York .....
http://www.smith-lawfirm.com/mandatory_reporting.htm
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
18 states require any citizen to report suspected child abuse or neglect. Those states are Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

In these states, HR managers in companies with on-site child care facilities may be required to report alleged abuse, even if an outside contractor runs the facility.

Almost a quarter of the states--Alaska, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Sooth Carolina, South Dakota and Wisconsin--designate substance abuse counselors as mandated reporters.

Several states, on the lookout for child pornography', require reports from commercial film or photo processors. Those states are Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Two states--Missouri and South Carolina--designate Internet service providers and computer technicians as mandated reporters.

In New York, day-care workers are included in the list of Mandated Reporters. N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 416 (McKinney 1992)
 

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