Police, teachers, and people in the medical field are obligated by law to report cases of abuse: good or bad?

UNCLE BEN

Necessary...

California Street Cop

Good.

I would like to hear an intelligent argument against the requirement. Its simply there to protect our kids.

Chuck

it can be good or bad. when i was in elementary school, i was in an accident with my bike, and the teachers didn't believe it, and i was almost taken away from my family. but if there is abuse going on, its good. my parents had to give the courts medical bills, and the doctor was interviewed.

Mary W

It is meant to help, but as with anything it gets overused and abuse is reported and there isn't real abuse. This happened in CA when PGE was sued for poisoning people with hexavalent chromium. Kids were brought to the hospital with nose bleeds and it was NOT due to abuse - but to the hexavalent chromium instead.

Betsy

This is a good thing.

Snuffy

necessary, and anyone else that's aware of it has a moral
duty to do likewise.

ohiofirefighter42

Good

Brigid McSomeone

It's good when abuse is actually occurring. Otherwise it puts innocent parents through a lot of hell! An investigator assumes you are guilty until proven innocent. When all of your privacy rights are gone, you really feel it. If people called only when there is some real evidence, that would be a great thing.

US soldier

The great news, helps keeps people inline.

Kawaii

Good.

random

Good

latwin2005

as a parent this is good. Even if authorities are called on suspected abuse, even if it is not happening. I would rather be questioned for something I didn't do, than have no one pay attention. At least then you know your children have other's (school teacher's, etc) looking after them as well. Abuse can happen outside the household as well and if people are required to report suspected abuse, it helps keep an extra watchful eye over the children. Even though an honest mistake can be made if it is falsely reported, at least someone is trying to make sure the children are safe. Right????

and_y_knot

I have mixed feelings on that. Obviously, the intent is pure, and my guess is that the law has had a beneficial net effect.

But when law is inserted into family life, the spirit of the law gets short shrift and the letter of the law tends to depersonalize and dehumanize responses; it tends to constrain our use and range of judgment. The parents, in particular, are intimidated by the irreversible and threatening nature of this sort of intervention. Legal correctness and rigid social services formulae and checklists dictate the course to be taken, and can thus appear more crucial than pursuing true healing and future realistic crime prevention.

It would be so much better if our SOCIAL culture (rather than legal culture) were more INCLINED and empowered to intervene and support: close, concerned and caring persons (friends, family, neighbors who are in a good position to know what is really going on) who would be willing and able to offer local and continuous support to the family. as needed. Volunteerism sets a tone of cooperativeness and banishes fear. A wide network breaks down the "workload" to tolerable and sustainable individual levels.

The foster care system is hardly a point of state or national pride, it is quite a flawed and unsatisfying system. Yet, there many children bouncing around in foster care, and so many who YET NEED to be in foster care that we need to be doing EVERYTHING we can do to heal and strengthen each and every birth family to keep them intact insofar as possible -- WITHOUT further endangering the children.

Unfortunately, (in part exacerbated by the ever-increasing wealth gap), this is NOT the direction we are going in, and that is why our current laws are still so widely needed

klewless

Good... There is no intelligent argument to consider any other way.. Maybe a paedophile could come up with some warped reasoning to not report abuse.

For the protection of the victim this is a good thing if abuse has been confirmed. Yes, people in authority must report abuse to ensure the safety of the vulnerable and to act as a deterrent to potential abusers.

sirbobby98121

If and only if all concerned are trained to recognize abuse.

A skinned knee may not be, a broken arm might...people trained to evaluate the situation are needed.

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