Background: Yesterday a counselor brought a 9th grade student to my office who had been attacked by her father the night before. police had been called, she filed a police report but apparently they left her with him because he drove her to school.
She had told a teacher, who brought her to the counselor, who then brought her to me to assess. She had no visible injuries. I asked the counselor who was reporting this to CPS (teacher, him, or me) - so that there weren't duplicate reports. He said he was going to let the grade-level principal know but I didn't have to do it, he would. He left with the student.
A few minutes later, grade level principal comes in, somewhat flustered, asking where student is. I say she left with counselor, and I think she was going back to class. He asked why she wasn't in my office anymore (because the counselor took her...) and why I didn't take photos of the injuries (there were no injuries to take photos of, plus I am uncomfortable taking photos of students on my personal cell phone). He later went to the medical director and said he was unsure the health office understood they were mandated reporters and we shouldn't have let the student leave. Medical director (who is an NP and also one of my best friends at work) discussed with me and she also clarified with him what happened after speaking to me. He was more calm and seemed to understand better.
Questions: Who calls in and fills out the CPS report in your school? It is my understanding duplicate reports don't need to be made (so the teacher, counselor, nurse, principal don't all need to call it in, just 1 of us).
What do you do with the student? Do you hold them in your office, another office? Call police?
We have a meeting on Monday to create procedures. Principal also asked for any "resources" we have that will assist in drawing up the plan.
In my state, every person you named (teacher, counselor, school nurse, principal) is a mandated reporter but the law allows for situations where a mandated reporter notifies his or her supervisor or the designee named by the employer and that person files the report.
Verbatim from the law:
Reporters who are staff members of medical or other public or private institutions, schools or facilities, must either notify the Department directly or notify the person in charge of the institution, school or facility, or his/her designee, who then becomes responsible for filing the report. Should the person in charge/ designee advise against filing, the staff member retains the right to contact DCF directly and to notify the local police or the Office of the Child Advocate. (Ch. 119, § 51A) Under the law, mandated reporters are protected from liability in any civil or criminal action and from any discriminatory or retaliatory actions by an employer.
So basically, schools, hospitals, etc can make their own policies about who does the reporting. I only worked per diem at a boarding school for a year and a trimester and I never had the opportunity to see how they did their reporting but I know that my best friend is a School Psychologist and, in her current school, the expectation is that the individual staff member who makes the finding of abuse/neglect is the one to file. In her past school, their policy was the principal was the one to file. I have another friend who is an Adjustment Counselor and, in her school, she does the filing.
As far as duplicate reports go, it's not going to hurt anything if more than 1 person files a report. If anything, it will force CPS's hand more. A few years back I (I was a visiting nurse at the time) and a child's primary care Social Worker filed 4 reports of neglect within a 48 hr period on the same child. I currently have a patient (whose mother just regained custody of him a few months ago) who is hospitalized and had 2 reports of neglect filed during this hospitalization- one by the police department who accepted his 911 call from his hospital room reporting that he couldn't find his mother and a second filed by the hospital when the mother repeatedly refused to show up for teaching like she said she would.
KelRN215, BSN, RN
1 Article; 7,349 Posts
In my state, every person you named (teacher, counselor, school nurse, principal) is a mandated reporter but the law allows for situations where a mandated reporter notifies his or her supervisor or the designee named by the employer and that person files the report.
Verbatim from the law:
Reporters who are staff members of medical or other public or private institutions, schools or facilities, must either notify the Department directly or notify the person in charge of the institution, school or facility, or his/her designee, who then becomes responsible for filing the report. Should the person in charge/ designee advise against filing, the staff member retains the right to contact DCF directly and to notify the local police or the Office of the Child Advocate. (Ch. 119, § 51A) Under the law, mandated reporters are protected from liability in any civil or criminal action and from any discriminatory or retaliatory actions by an employer.
So basically, schools, hospitals, etc can make their own policies about who does the reporting. I only worked per diem at a boarding school for a year and a trimester and I never had the opportunity to see how they did their reporting but I know that my best friend is a School Psychologist and, in her current school, the expectation is that the individual staff member who makes the finding of abuse/neglect is the one to file. In her past school, their policy was the principal was the one to file. I have another friend who is an Adjustment Counselor and, in her school, she does the filing.
As far as duplicate reports go, it's not going to hurt anything if more than 1 person files a report. If anything, it will force CPS's hand more. A few years back I (I was a visiting nurse at the time) and a child's primary care Social Worker filed 4 reports of neglect within a 48 hr period on the same child. I currently have a patient (whose mother just regained custody of him a few months ago) who is hospitalized and had 2 reports of neglect filed during this hospitalization- one by the police department who accepted his 911 call from his hospital room reporting that he couldn't find his mother and a second filed by the hospital when the mother repeatedly refused to show up for teaching like she said she would.