Undergraduate Program Coordinators Meeting

Undergraduate Program Coordinators Meeting Feb. 10, 2012 9 – 10:30 AM; 100 White Hall

Minutes

Present: Averil McClelland, Barb Scheule, Connie Collier, Janice Kroeger, Joanne Arhar, Karen Lowry-Gordon, Lyle Barton, Kele Ding, Aaron Mulrooney, Mary Ann Devine, Rhonda Richardson, William Kist.

Absent: Bette Brooks, Drew Tiene, Ellen Glickman, Kim Peer, Laura Buckeye, Lettie Gonzalez, Mary Dellman-Jenkins, Pat O’Connor.

Guests: Jim Knapp, VOSS; Lucy Wagener, Executive Director of Children’s Advocacy Center of Portage Co.; Laura Esposito, Children and Adults Family Assessment Supervisor, Dept. of Job and Family Services; Jim Watson, University Counsel; Deborah Barnbaum, Professor of Philosophy.

Panel Presentation on Reporting Child Abuse

This meeting was a panel discussion of laws, policies and procedures for reporting child abuse. Meeting guests included Lucy Wagener, Executive Director of Children’s Advocacy Center of Portage Co.; Laura Esposito, Children and Adults Family Assessment Supervisor, Dept. of Job and Family Services; Jim Watson, University Counsel; Deborah Barnbaum, Professor of Philosophy.

Joanne briefly described the group’s request to learn more about how to educate our students on the laws, policies and procedures for reporting child abuse. Our students include student teachers and students in field experiences, internships, and practicums that interact with children in the community. Guests were asked to spend approx. 10 minutes each describing their organization and discuss how their approach to meeting the reporting criteria.

Children’s Advocacy Center Lucy Wagener first described the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC). She shared that it was an independent, non-profit organization that is housed in Robinson Memorial Hospital. She provided handouts (posted online) that contain statistics for child sexual abuse in our area, noting that their agency has served over 860 children in the past five years. Children, a population with almost no voice, are referred to them for assistance. Their services focus on using coordination of efforts to reduce the retraumatization of the child. She noted that one of difficulties of child abuse is the need to for questioning and gather information, yet this act also causes the child to be retraumatized each time they retell their story. The CAC uses a model which reduces the number of times the child needs to repeat their story. The CAC acts as a liaison between agencies, as a victim’s advocate, provides trained facilitators and case workers to support their clients. The CAC ensures a neutral, fact finding and non-leading interview of the child which can be viewed by law enforcement officers in another room. This provides support for both the child and the caregiver. Their services continue through the court process and later.

Job and Family Services Laura Esposito also provided several handouts describing reporting laws and the process that is followed by Job and Family Services. She shared that the schools and the general community provide the largest sources of information to them and encouraged individuals to report their concerns and let JFS determine whether further investigation is needed. She noted that when reporting a conversation with a child, the reporter should try to use the child’s exact words if possible. She said that there are many situations in which reporting may be appropriate, including fighting at home, children being home alone at an inappropriate age, drug use in the home or by a parent. She also said that some situations are dependent upon other factors as well – for instance the age of the child who is left home alone. Esposito also shared that while one report may not be a cause for alarm, several reports over time may be the key to determining the situation in which the child has. She suggested open-ended questions when having conversations with a child and reminded coordinators that leading questions should not be used. She also mentioned that some agencies have policies requiring staff to report the concern internally prior to reporting to an external agency. This has resulted in teachers and others making calls to JFS after business hours to report a concern. This, of course, is a difficult situation - the reporter is forced to make a judgment about whether they should follow the law or their company policy. JFS has social workers who provide risk assessments for children and also provide education to the community. She noted that reports related to foster children are addressed in the county in which the child lives. If a concern is reported in Portage County and the child lives in another county, the report will be forwarded to the appropriate county JFS. It is better to report directly to the appropriate county if the caller knows the location of the child’s home. Esposito said that JFS also provides other services that support children including food assistance, child support, healthy start program and others programs.

There was a related discussion of the difference between mandatory and elective reporting obligations. There was related discussion about the boundaries of mandatory reporting, for example, when the teacher is not working, are they still considered a mandatory reporter? The definitions of mandatory and non-mandatory, as well as reporting requirements, are in process of being clarified and will be shared will coordinators as soon as possible.

This raised another discussion of ethics which continued later. She noted that school policies sometimes require parental consent before JFS can speak with their child unless certain criteria have been met (related to symptoms of abuse). This can cause a problem because it may be someone in the family who is abusing the child.

Joanne shared that she sent our child abuse reporting to five local school superintendents and that four of them had responded that they have a similar policy. Esposito noted that schools may choose to call the police instead of JFS but that the police are less sensitive to the needs of the child because their focus is on the crime. This was not a criticism but a point made that the job of the police is to arrest the criminal and the job of JFS is to support the child.

Related to the earlier question of mandated reporting vs. voluntary reporting, there was a discussion of these boundaries and it was pointed out that all individuals are required to report felonies. Jim Watson also said that while the law is clear, it may be an ethical decision for faculty to develop a university policy related to student reporting. A coordinator shared that students will be uncertain and may need some additional support. How should the concern that one might report in error be addressed? JFS recommends reporting and letting them make the decision.

IRB Criteria Deborah Barnbaum discussed the ethical criteria from the IRB perspective. She shared that the IRB follows federal and ethical principals with regard to research and that they also use the Belmont Report (1979), a document which recommends criteria in three areas be met:  Autonomy o There must be respect for autonomy o How do we protect those who do not have autonomy?  Beneficence o There must be promotion of good and attempt to prevent bad (non-maleficent) o Conflict emerges when balancing specific vs. general needs  Justice o There must be equitable distribution of justice

These three criteria are not ranked.

Barnbaum indicated that there may be ethical conflict connected to the incidental findings of research and pointed out that with the IRB when reporting may be needed, there are rules: Researchers must clearly communicate that confidentiality may be breached under specific circumstances. She stressed that while the certificate of confidentiality protects researchers from releasing information to third parties, it does not protect them if they fail to report an incident or issue.

Discussion Related discussion indicated that most abuse occurs in the home by a family member, boyfriend or step-father. This type of situation results in loss of autonomy for the child. A question was raised of whether students should be sent into schools or organizations with reporting policies that conflict with legal requirements. Further discussion revealed that more than policies, past practices and customs dictate the organization’s expectations for staff members. This combined with college students’ lack of experience could result in a difficult situation and it was suggested that faculty members may want to provide additional support and education to students about the law and how to handle these types of situations. One important point brought up was that reporters must never make a promise not to tell anyone else because they cannot keep it.

Solutions for educating students included providing a more global awareness of the topic, further discussion of best practices and developing skills to manage customs that in some cases may take precedence over policy. This is sometimes difficult because of negative perception about social services that some schools hold. Small communities are also particularly difficult because the child is aware that the adults around him/her know his/her parents, family members, etc. and the abuse may be coming from one of them.

What is the role of faculty and field supervisors in supporting the student teachers, etc? Discussion indicated that the student teacher may feel a need to talk with their cooperating teacher, faculty member, because they are not in a position of power, but it is clear that they are legally responsible for reporting. Faculty members have a responsibility to assist them if they ask. Important note: if a student wants to discuss the issue with the faculty member, it should be a same day discussion. Reporting is time sensitive. Coordinators were reminded that communication between schools and faculty is important because the students are in a position in which they are not able to run a classroom yet but are required to independently report abuse. This needs to be clearly articulated to schools. A suggestion was made that KSU needs to clearly state that our reporting policy (the law) takes priority over any school policies or practices to the contrary.

There was a brief discussion of other similar events which have been in the news recently and if the publicity had caused any increase in reports of child abuse in Portage County. The response was no, but the incidents have provided an opportunity for additional discussions of the topic.

Joanne then asked the coordinators for their feedback on how KSU should handle the reporting policy issue. Coordinators recommended that KSU simply follow the law in place, making it clear that KSU policy is that student teachers and others who work with children must independently report. Discussion also raised the question of how to best educate students on the law and possible scenarios that they might experience in a school. One suggestion was to make sure that every syllabus in every course have a link to the law. Another was to arrange for specific training, using case studies to allow the students to develop skills and knowledge about reporting child abuse. Additionally, coordinators asked to have the law posted on the VOSS web page along with the background check and fingerprinting information. Further discussion will be needed to develop a plan.