Mandated Reporting Student Services Department All Staff Meeting October 20, 2014

Who is a Mandated Reporter? Everyone who works at ETHS is a mandated reporter. This includes support staff, safety, paraprofessionals, nutrition services, coaches, maintenance and custodial staff.

Basic Reporting A mandated reporter must make a report to DCFS when he/she has reasonable cause to suspect that a child known to him/her in a professional or official capacity is being abused or neglected. - Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act (325 ILCS 5/4)

Basic Reporting It is not the reporter’s responsibility to investigate or verify the claim; suspicion is all that is needed to make a report. As long as reports are made in good faith, the reporter is protected from legal liability.

Where to call? Reports should be made by calling: The Illinois Child Abuse Hotline ABUSE Operated 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Information Necessary to Make a Report Name, approximate age, address, and relationship of victim and alleged perpetrator. Harm to victim Physical abuse, sexual abuse, risk of harm, neglect, etc. Brief description of incident(s) of abuse. ETHS will be providing a checklist to use as a reference, which will be ed to staff after the presentation.

After you make the call… 1.Complete the DCFS Cants 5 form within 48 hours and mail to listed address. (The form will be available on the intranet.) 2.Contact your supervisor and inform them of the call. 3.Contact the assigned school social worker. (You can find the assigned social worker in TAC under student relationships or by calling x7230.)

Rights of a Mandated Reporter When you call the DCFS hotline, you are entitled to the following: ▫The hotline worker’s full name ▫To speak to the worker’s supervisor if you disagree with their decision ▫Request a review of an investigation if there are concerns about the investigation’s adequacy ▫To receive information about the findings and actions taken by DCFS, including actions to protect a child’s safety

Mandated Reporter Mythbusters Myth #1: Students with certain disabilities are inherently unreliable sources of information. ▫Research indicates that this is not true and is a myth that perpetrators use to their advantage. A student’s communication abilities should not discourage you from making a report. Myth #2: Making a report will result in the child being removed from the home. ▫Making a report most often does not result in a child being removed from the home. Children are removed in less than 5% of child abuse cases.

Child Abuse vs. Other Crimes Child abuse occurs when the alleged perpetrator is anyone living in the child’s home, any person responsible for the child’s welfare, or any person who came to know the child through a position of trust (e.g. coaches, teachers). If the alleged perpetrator does not fall into one of these categories, what occurred may be a crime but not be classified as “child abuse.” In this case, DCFS will refer the mandated reporter to the police.

Resources pxhttps://sp.eths.k12.il.us/inside/default.as px