3.7: Mandated Reporting

Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of a Mandated Reporter

Legal responsibilities

As an early learning professional in the state of California, you are a mandated reporter. As such you are required to report any known or suspected instances of child abuse or neglect to the county child welfare department or to a local law enforcement agency (local police/sheriffs' department). Understanding abuse is something that early learning professionals are required to have knowledge about. There is a required course that all early learning professionals must take in order to work with children and families.

This website Mandated Reporter Training offers the training needed for no cost. This training provides early learning professionals with the information they need to be understand their role and the actions they must take as a mandated reporter. The training for early learning professionals takes about 3 hours. After you have completed the training, you will earn a certificate to provide to your employer.

Many professionals who work directly or indirectly with children are mandated reporters. That includes:

• School personnel
• Child care providers (early learning professionals)
• Mental and social health providers
• Law enforcement
• Clergy
• Other professionals
• Volunteers

Each profession has training that provides what they need to know in order to ensure that they are doing their job as a mandated reporter.

Child Care Providers

Child care providers have unique opportunities to notice signs of child abuse or neglect. Your caregiving duties allow you to pay attention to children’s progress and development, and regular contact with children can reveal changes in appearance and behavior that indicate abuse. You may have infants in your care who cannot speak for themselves and are completely reliable on caregivers to protect them.

As a child care provider, you may be the only person outside of the family with whom a child has significant contact. You may be the one trusted adult to whom a child confides in about abuse and the only person who is in a position to help a child. It’s critical that you know how to recognize the signs and what to do when abuse is suspected.

• Licensee of a licensed community care facility
• Administrator of a licensed community care facility
• Employee of a licensed community care facility
• Licensee of a licensed child day care facility
• Administrator of a licensed child day care facility
• Employee of a licensed child day care facility

School Personnel

School personnel play a key role in identifying and helping abused children. Children spend the majority of their day in school, where you have regular contact and the ability to observe changes in appearance and behavior that others may not notice.

School personnel are often seen as positive role models and may be a source of support and care for many children; you may be the one trusted adult to whom a child confides in about abuse. It’s critical that you know how to recognize the signs and report suspected abuse.

• Teacher
• Instructional aide
• Teacher’s aide or teacher’s assistant
• Classified employee of any public school
• Administrative Officer or supervisor of child welfare and attendance, or a certified pupil personnel employee
• Administrator of a public or private day camp
• Administrator or employee of a public or private youth center, youth recreation program or youth organization
• Administrator or employee of a public or private children’s organization
• Employee of a county office of education or the California Department of Education, whose duties bring the employee into contact with children on a regular basis
• Head start teacher
• Licensing worker or licensing evaluator employed by a licensing agency
• Employee of a school district police or security department
• Any person who is an administrator or presenter of, or a counselor, in a child abuse prevention program in any public or private school
• District attorney investigator, inspector or family support officer
• Special education teachers, and staff.
• An athletic coach, athletic administrator, or athletic director employed by any public or private school that provides any combination of instruction for kindergarten or grades 1 to 12
• Any other employees and persons working on the behalf of school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools who are mandated reporters, as defined in Section 11165.7 of the Penal Code

To report child abuse, you can contact the Children's Department of Social Services Mandated Reporting website.

Ethical responsibilities

As an early learning professional, there is guidance given from National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). NAEYC has developed many position statements that guide our responsibility to the children and families we serve. The NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment is a document that outlines our ethical responsibilities to:

• to children
• to families
• to colleagues
• to community and society

The code is divided into principles and ideals. The primary principle we must adhere to is:

P-1.1—Above all, we shall not harm children. We shall not participate in practices that are emotionally damaging, physically harmful, disrespectful, degrading, dangerous, exploitative, or intimidating to children. This principle has precedence over all others in this Code.

As early learning professionals, you must be aware of your ethical responsibilities as you are trained to know how to best support children and their families in early learning environments.

References:

"Parenting and Family Diversity" by Diana Lang is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment: Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2011

Children's Department of Social Services