HMGT 372 ASSESMENT 3

Child Abuse Mandatory Reporting

Ifeyinwa Egwuatu

HMGT 372 6381

September 28, 2020

This study source was downloaded by 100000766134782 from CourseHero.com on 05-24-2022 17:04:49 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/79660736/HMGT-372-ASSIGNMENT-3docx/

1 CHILD ABUSE MANDATORY REPORTING

Child Abuse Mandatory Reporting – Purpose of Paper, Federal/State Laws

Healthcare workers provide quality care to everyone, ranging from elders to infants,

special needs to disabled, and from most healthy to chronically ill patients. A factor that impacts

care is child abuse. According to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), child

abuse and neglect is defined as "any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or

caregiver that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation,

or an act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm (U.S. Department of

Health & Human Services, 2015). As parents, legal guardians, and healthcare providers, there is

an immense amount of responsibility to report child abuse.

The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness the responsibilities of reporting child

abuse to a nurse supervisor. I chose this topic because I have worked closely with children in

different job settings such as working at Chuck E. Cheese’s where the population is primarily

children and at a pediatrics facility, shadowing a pediatrician. Mandatory reporting laws differ

for each state when it comes to child abuse – which includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, and

emotional abuse (FindLaw, 2019). The Maryland Family Law Code S 5-704 states that health

practioners, educators, workers acting in a professional capacity in this State shall immediately

notify and give all information required to the head of the institution. The federal law is 42

U.S.C.A. S 5106g which sets the minimum standards for defining child abuse and neglect for

those states that accept federal funding. Additionally, health care professionals are mandated to

report to Child Protective Services (CPS) (Maryland Department of Health, n.d.).

Employee and Health Services Setting

The health care setting I chose was the nurse’s office in a school building. A school

This study source was downloaded by 100000766134782 from CourseHero.com on 05-24-2022 17:04:49 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/79660736/HMGT-372-ASSIGNMENT-3docx/

2 CHILD ABUSE MANDATORY REPORTING

building is a general setting where there are children everywhere, with the exception of staff and

faculty. School personnel are often the first to become aware that a child may be a victim of

maltreatment and is struggling because of adverse events occurring in his or her life (National

Association of School Nurses, 2014).

The name of the employee I picked is Gladys Ebele Egwuatu. Egwuatu has over 20 years

of experience from starting as a Registered Nurse at NIH and Walter Reed, then transitioning as a

school at Doswell Brooks Elementary School. After obtaining her Master’s degree in Nursing,

she was promoted to nurse manager of PGCPS, overseeing 32 schools, along with another job

working as a hospital nurse supervisor at the United Medical Center.

Discussion of Three Critical Aspects of Employee’s responsibilities

As noted previously, there is an immense amount of responsibilities that health care

providers must uphold. Egwuatu says that “Interviewing the child is extremely important; even if

the child is a minor with their parent present, I would still ask the parent to step outside the room,

so I may begin to interview the patient, while also paying attention to body language, breathing,

everything” She continues to say that “a thorough body surface exam will need to be conducted,

meaning the child removes their clothes and we reports every wound, cigarette butt burn, cuts,

scars that leads to suspicion of child abuse”. The USA’s National Institute of Child Health and

Human Development allow law enforcements and health practioners to get quality information

from a child victim/witness (Public Health Foundation of Georgia, n.d.). According to MD Fam

L Code S 5-704, a written report of the child that has been subject to abuse followed by an

interview and examination must be conducted. While there is no state or federal law against

forgetting to conduct an interview, Egwuatu mentions that

This study source was downloaded by 100000766134782 from CourseHero.com on 05-24-2022 17:04:49 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/79660736/HMGT-372-ASSIGNMENT-3docx/

3 CHILD ABUSE MANDATORY REPORTING

“you want to be on top of situations like that because if the child goes to get examined

elsewhere for whatever reason and there are signs of abuse on his or her body without

corresponding reports and interviews in their files, the last care unit the child was seen

will be flagged.”

In 2012, a Wisconsin elementary school did not interview and allegedly ignored a teacher

abusing and terrorizing disabled children (Buchmeier, 2012). When the allegations against

teacher Mary Berglund came to light, Janet Berry Elementary School principal Richard Waters,

whose office sat across the hall from Berglund’s classroom, did not report Berglund to the state

or conduct an interview with the victims, according to the complaint. Berglund’s abuse allegedly

went on for years since the children could not share their experiences and because school staff

members either ignored or were ignorant of the allegations. three other educational assistants, a

custodian and a speech pathologist, could have reported Berglund over the years, but they instead

stood idly by. Berglund, 54, pleaded guilty in December 2011 to five counts of battery and one

count of child abuse (Buchmeier, 2012).

Egwuatu pointed out another critical responsibility and that is to “make sure all reports

are true and 100 percent accurate, because submitting a false report is illegal by law”. The state

of Maryland has not addressed the issue of falsifying reports in the statutes, however, in most

states, the alleged person will be referred to the office of the Chief State’s Attorney, shall be fined

of not more than $2,000 or imprisoned for not more than a year, or both (Child Welfare, n.d.). In

May of 2019, a Lakeland police officer, William Long, had been accused of making a false

report of child abuse with the Department of Children and Families (DCF), saying his son had

scratches on his back and a puncture wound in his hand (Leone, 2019). A DCF investigator went

to the babysitter’s house for questioning and determined there was no evidence of child abuse.

This study source was downloaded by 100000766134782 from CourseHero.com on 05-24-2022 17:04:49 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/79660736/HMGT-372-ASSIGNMENT-3docx/

4 CHILD ABUSE MANDATORY REPORTING

The investigator called and meet with Long who allegedly changed his story, saying he had no

concerns of child ware while his son was under his babysitter’s watch. Long is now on paid

administrative leave and faces a third-degree felony charge of making a false report of child

abuse (Leone, 2019).

A person doesn’t need to be in a warzone in order to feel trauma. Being a victim of child

abuse and neglect can trigger trauma, but health care workers can do their part to assist and aid

victims. Providing support after the report is another important, critical responsibility. “Children

are very fragile”, says Egwuatu.

“Going through any kind of abuse or negligence is very traumatic. Building trust will be

difficult, they won’t be completely comfortable with people, and most develop

psychiatric disorders or having to rely on medication because they replay what they’ve

been through and get anxious or can’t sleep, or display outbursts of anger and rage”

Children need support from their family members, friends, teachers, etc. in order to prevent long

term issues from occurring. Damaging consequences of abuse can not only reshape a child’s

brain but also last a lifetime (Schulte, 2013). It takes time to heal, but providers and professionals

must be willing to be emotionally present to aid children in efforts to avoid any psychological

disorders that come with this level of trauma.

While there isn’t a new story of the consequences of not supporting child abuse victims, there are

health care professionals and teams of at hospitals, clinic and other care facilities where their

jobs are primarily to help victims so they don’t have long term effects of negligence and child

abuse. Penn State Children’s Hospital has teams dedicated to child physical abuse and child

sexual abuse (Woodall, 2020). This is one of several hospitals and facilities. Children should feel

This study source was downloaded by 100000766134782 from CourseHero.com on 05-24-2022 17:04:49 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/79660736/HMGT-372-ASSIGNMENT-3docx/

5 CHILD ABUSE MANDATORY REPORTING

safe and comfortable knowing that there are professionals specialized in helping them in their

traumatic state.

Conclusion

Child abuse has a long-lasting effect on victims, their family, and others surrounding.

Health care workers need to be very mindful when working with children and that being vigilant

is key. It is important to follow critical responsibilities of child abuse mandatory reporting such

as interviewing children that suspected to be a victim of child abuse, report it to the Child

Protection Services immediately, and be a support to the victim. Failing to maintaining the

responsibilities will have a negative impact on the quality of health care. Consequences of not

following these responsibilities will result in several children suffering through abuse, whether

it’s sexual, drug, physical, or neglect. Every suspicious report that is made is indirectly saving a

life. For more information about this issue, visit the U.S. Department of Health & Human

Services website at hhs.gov, section Programs for Families and Children.

This study source was downloaded by 100000766134782 from CourseHero.com on 05-24-2022 17:04:49 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/79660736/HMGT-372-ASSIGNMENT-3docx/

6 CHILD ABUSE MANDATORY REPORTING

References

Buchmeier, L. (2012, February 9). School Allegedly Ignored Special-Ed Abuse. Court House

News Service. https://www.courthousenews.com/school-allegedly-ignored-special-ed-

abuse/

Child Welfare. (n.d.). Penalties for Failure to Report and False Reporting of Child Abuse and

Neglect. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/report.pdf#page=3&view=Penalties%20for

%20false%20reporting

FindLaw. (2019, February 4). Mandatory Reporting Laws: Child Abuse and Neglect.

Criminal.Findlaw. https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/mandatory-reporting-

laws-child-abuse-and-neglect.html

Leone, A. (2019, September 21). Lakeland Police Officer Charged With Making False Report of

Child Abuse. Bay News 9.

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/crime/2019/09/21/lakeland-police-officer-charged-

with-making-false-report-of-child-abuse

Maryland Department of Health. (n.d.). Reporting Requirements. Retrieved September 25, 2020,

from https://phpa.health.maryland.gov/mch/Pages/IPV_Reporting.aspx

National Association of School Nurses. (2014, January 1). Care of Victims of Child

Maltreatment: The School Nurse’s Role. Nasn.Org.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED558441.pdf

This study source was downloaded by 100000766134782 from CourseHero.com on 05-24-2022 17:04:49 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/79660736/HMGT-372-ASSIGNMENT-3docx/

7 CHILD ABUSE MANDATORY REPORTING

Public Health Foundation of Georgia. (n.d.). Interviewing a child witness or victim: how to get

an accurate testimony without further traumatising the child. Retrieved September 25,

2020, from http://phf.org.ge/en/resources/interviewing-a-child-victim-or-witness/

Schulte, B. (2013, September 12). Effects of child abuse and neglect, if untreated, can last a

lifetime, study finds. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?

next_url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2flocal%2fnew-report-finds-that-

untreated-the-effects-of-child-abuse-and-neglect-can-last-a-lifetime

%2f2013%2f09%2f12%2f1edc0bdc-1bc7-11e3-82ef-a059e54c49d0_story.html

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2015, August 21). What is child abuse or

neglect? What is the definition of child abuse. HHS.Gov.

https://www.hhs.gov/answers/programs-for-families-and-children/what-is-child-

abuse/index.html

Woodall, C. (2020, May 13). As hospitals see more severe child abuse injuries during

coronavirus, “the worst is yet to come.” USAToday.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/13/hospitals-seeing-more-severe-

child-abuse-injuries-during-coronavirus/3116395001/

This study source was downloaded by 100000766134782 from CourseHero.com on 05-24-2022 17:04:49 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/79660736/HMGT-372-ASSIGNMENT-3docx/ Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)