I WAS ASKED IF I WAS IN A CULT BY A SOCIAL WORKER!

[Keltoi]

Tancorix, You are right that laws vary from region to region and state to state, however court cases are universal throughout the United States and I guess I should amend/ put a disclaimer on my previous statement


....in the state where I taught it is very difficult for a teacher to create a case or build a case against someone if physical evidence is lacking and only reasonable suspicsion is there.....I am not wanting to start a debate about the laws of various states...I just thought it was interesting on how different states handle issues like this in education...

[Chai Guy]

...in the state where I taught it is very difficult for a teacher to create a case or build a case against someone if physical evidence is lacking and only reasonable suspicsion is there...

Just to clarify, in California the teacher (or any other "Mandated Reporter") simply reports to Social Services any "reasonable suspicion" of child abuse or neglect. It is then up to the social worker to decide what to do next, be it start a file, conduct an investigation or do nothing.

[/quote]

[Keltoi]

Hey Chai,

I find that interesting, in the midwest it is very difficult for a case such as that to take root, we would first have to report it to the principal of the school and then the super if it felt like there was any reason to carry it that far which in my case I seldom saw the cases go much further. The prin. and super would not like to drag these cases up because the board of education would down grade their performances and hence their job opportunities shit the bed....and the salaries went down hill.

But from reading your posts, it seems that you must be a social worker a work the cases from the different perspective which I find to be interesting. If you do work it from that angle, do you feel teachers do not report or over report cases of abuse? Here is an interesting twist to the topic, what if the abuse or neglect was not coming from home but from a boyfriend/girlfriend in the same school and in the same classes. What if the abuse was so bad that it carried out in public to the point of almost attmepted murder and welts and bruises on the g/f? I have seen it happen and the school would not do a dam thing especially when the abuse happened in my class room and I witnessed it first hand and reported it and wanted the DFS brought in. What would you have recommended in a case such as this?

[Chai Guy]

Yes, I have worked as a social worker, but left due to my frustrations with the court system and policies, the whole thing is a mess and dosen't have to be that way, but I left to pursue an area of work where I could make more of a difference. It was also emotionally and spiritually exhausting. I picked up a new file one day, it was filled with a history of horrible abuse, put it down and thought "Seen that before" and realized that I had become totally desensitized to the pain.

I find that interesting, in the midwest it is very difficult for a case such as that to take root, we would first have to report it to the principal of the school and then the super if it felt like there was any reason to carry it that far which in my case I seldom saw the cases go much further.

In California, virtually anyone who works with minors in a professional capacity (teacher, day care worker, doctor, etc.) is considered a "mandated reporter" they don't have to ask permission from anyone to report a reasonable suspicion of abuse or neglect. A teacher might be instructed to report these suspicions to a supervisor first, and that might be part of his/her school's policy, however, as far as the law is concerned they are required to make sure that a report is filed either directly or through a supervisor.

do you feel teachers do not report or over report cases of abuse?

I think there are a few extremes of both situations, with some teachers reporting every scrape the kid gets on the playground as suspected abuse and the teacher that sees the kid come to school with burn marks on his/her neck and dosen't report it. For the most part I found that teachers were generally accuarate in their reporting.

what if the abuse or neglect was not coming from home but from a boyfriend/girlfriend in the same school and in the same classes. What if the abuse was so bad that it carried out in public to the point of almost attmepted murder and welts and bruises on the g/f? I have seen it happen and the school would not do a dam thing especially when the abuse happened in my class room and I witnessed it first hand and reported it and wanted the DFS brought in. What would you have recommended in a case such as this?

It's important to note that often times abuse does not come directly from a parent. Abuse can come from an older sibling, an aunt, uncle, cousin, caretaker, the boyfriend/girlfriend of the parent, or peer at school that's not that unusual.

If I was called on this case, I would conduct an investigation and determine if it had merit. Simultaneously I would also notify the school and the local police. Assuming that your statements were true and we could corroborate these finding with evidence (bruises, eyewitness accounts) the perpetrator would most likely be arrested and charges filed against them. This action would be a matter to be handled by the police and the local D.A. My job as a social worker would be to assist the victim with finding counseling and working with the school to determine how this situation happened in the first place and how it could be prevented in the future (assuming this happened on the school campus).

If you reported this situation to your supervisor and nothing happened then I would have made an anonymous call to DFS as well as an anonymous call to the local Police Department. An assault is an assualt and it dosen't matter where it occurs. I find it amazing how many assualts and rapes occur on public campuses (both college and high schools) that go unreported and are "handled" by the schools.

As far as the issues regarding the original poster to this thread. I'm curious as to where the case is now. If you don't want to talk about it I can certainly understand. We had very few "lifestyle" cases reported (that is people reporting abuse/neglect solely due to a person's perceived "immoral" lifestyle, and almost none of them were investigated).

P.S.- I agree with your advice regarding "clipboards". There are a lot of genuinely concerned, intelligent people working within social services, there are also a lot of people working in social services that NEED social services. It's difficult to tell the good guys from the bad guys.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

A little lesson on why you should have a playa handle and a good photograph of someone else or well made up one of you!

"everything you say, will be used against you in a court of Hell"

Da' Devil

Be wise people, be wise!


A II Z

[Keltoi]

Chai,


Thank you for the feedback. It is interesting to hear another perspective on situations. With the b/f and g/f situation it happened on a regular basis and let me tell you, I also became very good at dodging flying objects like heavy metal staplers and tape dispenser while this boy was in a rage and I saw him on numerous occasions haul off beat the crap out of his girlfriend in front of the whole school but the officials would only send him home for the day and he would return back to school and it was unbearable, hence, the usage of former teacher.

I would also highly agree with you there are teachers who do cry wolf one to many times over a scrapped knee etc.. Thank again Chai...

I am aslo wondering how the court case is coming along...

[Green Wood]

Remember to say, I was at a Christian conservative republican tea party for my labor day vacation. Damn those Muslims!

Let no one know what you really are: a hedonistic drug sex crazed art music playa fornicator!

Or the Moral commissionair will fire you!

[1durphul]

Remember to say, I was at a Christian conservative republican tea party for my labor day vacation. Damn those Muslims!

Let no one know what you really are: a hedonistic drug sex crazed art music playa fornicator!

Or the Moral commissionair will fire you!

Wow, a thread from 2003, does grave robbing a dead thread count as cultish behavior?

[gyre]

What year do you think it is?

[Apollonaris Zeus]

Depending on your employment this is a good thread to realize that you can lose your job or your children if certain people find out. Best to keep it a secret. I don't need to because I am self employed