In Focus: How School Employees Help Alert Authorities to Child Abuse
While Connecticut has some of the loosest oversight of homeschooled children in the region, the state has taken proactive steps to protect traditionally schooled students from child abuse by requiring school employees to report evidence of abuse.
Like virtually every state, Connecticut law considers people in certain roles to be “mandated reporters” of child abuse and neglect. Among those roles are school employees like teachers, administrators, guidance counselors and other educational professionals.
That means if school staff have reasonable cause to suspect a child is being abused at home or elsewhere, they are required by law to report the situation to authorities. These policies protect children by ensuring that neglect and non-accidental injuries are investigated as soon as possible.
Over the years, Connecticut has strengthened these laws to require more adults to serve as mandated reporters for children. Since 1965, the legislature has voted several times to expand the list of educational professionals from teachers, principals, and social workers to include virtually every “school employee.”
According to officials with the Department of Children and Families, around 86% of child abuse and neglect reports come from mandated reporters like school employees, CTNewsJunkie reported this year.
“For a number of years, the highest mandated reporters have been schools,” said Lisa Daymonde, director of DCF’s Careline operations, according to NewsJunkie. “That’s where kids are most visible.”
And when kids are not required to appear in school, abuse and neglect can go unreported. DCF officials said that was the case when schools were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They got masked a bit in the COVID days when everyone was home because schools were closed and we really didn’t see it until schools came back and then it just took off again,” said Michael Williams, deputy commissioner of operations for DCF, according to CTNewsJunkie.
By Hugh McQuaid