Shoaib Machave

A source of frustration for some callers to the Child Abuse Hotline is the inability of Child Protective Services to intervene with a family before child abuse or neglect happens.

But child abuse and neglect laws are clear – CPS can intervene with a family only when there is reasonable suspicion that abuse or neglect has already occured.  This is called Secondary Prevention – preventing child abuse or neglect from happening again.

Mandated reporters often call the Hotline to report cases in which there is a possibility that child abuse or neglect may occur, but there are no indicators to raise a reasonable suspicion that it has already occurred. These are calls for primary prevention, and they cannot be registered.

Just because CPS cannot act in these cases doesn’t mean that you can’t. Learn more about how people like you can help a family avoid child abuse or neglect before it happens. That’s why we say preventing child abuse and neglect is everyone’s job.

This is one of the leading misperceptions about the role of Child Protective Services. Learn about others, below, in this newsletter.

Definition:

Reasonable Suspicion

A reporter may form a reasonable suspicion that child abuse or neglect is occurring when two factors are present:

1. The reporter has information that a child has been harmed by a parent/person legally responsible for the child.

2. Another experienced mandated reporter would suspect child abuse or neglect if given the same information.

In December 1998, Hae broke up with Adnan and pursued a relationship with a boy she worked with at LensCrafters at the local mall

The Best Online Mortgage Lenders 2022 · Better · Guaranteed Rate · PNC Bank · Ally · LoanDepot · Quicken Loans · Guild Mortgage · Mr Cooper