NCJ Number
98340
Editor(s)
C C Tower
Date Published
1984
Length
32 pages
Annotation
The specific roles and responsibilities of individual teachers in the reporting of child abuse and neglect are presented.
Abstract
This booklet contains answers to questions most frequently asked by teachers relating to the reporting of child abuse and neglect. The purpose of focusing on the questions teachers ask is to provide a general guideline to encourage teachers to seek further specifics in the statutes of their own localities. Information was gathered from the circulation of a questionnaire consisting of 30 questions to the 50 States and the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Responses were received from all 55 sources, and responses to 19 of the questions provided sufficient commonalities for compilation. The remaining questions elicited such a divergence of information that it was deemed impractical to incorporate the questions in the general compilation of results; however, a summary of the replies to the questions is provided at the report's conclusion. Questions asked covered many topics: legal requirements for reporting and discretion for nonreporting, teacher immunity, anonymous reporting, child medical treatment, obligations of social service agencies, confidentiality, and the investigatory procedure.