Good, but lacks access to justice for CSA victims thru SOL reform

Pennsylvania lawmakers prepare for votes on child protection upgrades

The Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal had an instant, consciousness-raising effect in the fight against child abuse.

Now, another important goal – sharpening state laws to the strengthen protections for those children who need them most – is coming into sight.

Pennsylvania legislators are expected to start taking votes this week on a series of bills that, taken together, will modernize the statutory definition of child abuse, strengthen and clarify the obligations of those who come upon it, and break down walls that too often have kept doctors, child welfare agencies and police working in isolation from each other.

No one guarantees perfection.

But if the bills work as intended, supporters say, they will present a distinct silver lining to the sordid Sandusky case: A safer place for Pennsylvania’s children to just be kids.

Most advocates say the result of nearly two years’ work will be worth waiting for.

“It feels as if at the last minute, there’s been this push from those worried about not enough weight being given to parental prerogatives (for child discipline)” said Cathleen Palm, who has monitored the package’s development for the Protect Our Children Committee.

“But on balance and on the whole, these are still huge steps forward for Pennsylvania kids.”

Some parts of the package, which flowed from the report and recommendations of a blue-ribbon tax force empaneled after Sandusky’s November 2011 arrest, won’t reach the floor of the House or Senate until next year.

But after months of negotiations and legal fine-tuning, a first wave to be voted this week will revolve around these major prongs.

Redefining child abuse:

The legal definition has been opened up considerably through wording changes like replacing a need to show “serious bodily injury” with plain “bodily injury.” In addition, certain specific acts like burning, cutting off air supply or forcefully shaking an infant will now automatically be considered abusive acts.

The changes are intended to permit more cases of abuse – in a state where “founded” reports have traditionally tracked well below national averages – to get detected earlier and stopped, in the hopes of reducing the number of serious injuries, sexual crimes or deaths through neglect.

It’s a universally shared goal.

But sharing that goal and achieving it in the law are different matters. So there have been clashes in getting this language to the goal line.

Domestic violence prevention advocates, for example, have clashed over provisions that would extend liability for child abuse – and listing as abusers on a state registry – to family members who knew of abusive acts but failed to take action to stop them.

Their argument is that that’s unfair to mothers caught in bad relationships who haven’t reported abuse in the interests – as they see it – of doing the best thing for their child at that moment.

Leaders of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, in particular, pushed unsuccessfully for specific exceptions to the new definitions in cases where a family member would have fear of violent retaliation.

If that child is subsequently separated from their care-giving parent based on a child abuse referral, they argued, they will be victimized all over again.

Supporters of the stronger language pushed back, in the interest of putting the child’s interest first.

Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said this week he respects any adult’s right to decide for themselves how to deal with an abusive relationship. “But I have zero tolerance for her right to make that choice for a child.”

Dr. Cindy Christian, a pediatrician at the Childrens Hospital of Pennsylvania who also serves as medical director of the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, agreed.

“Children are a special population,” she said. “They can’t advocate for themselves. They don’t have the ability to extricate themselves from a violent situation. They’re too young and too scared.”

In late drafts of the bills, the stronger language on family reporting obligations has remained, but tempered with a new requirement for all abuse findings to be signed off on by county children & youth services directors and their solicitors before being turned over to the state for listing on the registry.

There is also new language that gives those placed on the state registry the opportunity to seek removal from the list with a showing, for example, that they “no longer represent a risk.”

That language, legislative drafters said, is aimed specifically at people like mothers in abusive relationships whose main transgression was failing to stop abuse committed by another.

The changes still have not satisfied leaders of the domestic violence coalition.

“We still firmly believe there are going to be instances where victims of domestic violence will be labeled as child abusers,” said Ellen Kramer, PCADV’s legal director.

Kramer said her coalition will now turn its attention to the implementation of the new laws, including trying to make sure its concerns are heard by children & youth case workers, judges handling custody disputes and the like.

Strengthening and clarifying the mandatory reporting statute.

Under the proposed changes in this area, Sandusky might have been caught 10 years earlier.

The language would require someone like Mike McQueary – the former Penn State assistant who reported a sexual assault by Sandusky to Joe Paterno in 2001 – to report what he saw not only to his direct supervisor at Penn State, but separately to the state Department of Public Welfare’s child abuse hotline service.

That dual reporting track is intended so that the leaders of any specific institution would no longer have the ability to unilaterally sweep a potentially embarrassing incident under the rug, as Penn State’s top administrators from time are now accused.

And it’s just one of the ways lawmakers are striving to close loopholes in Pennsylvania’s mandatory reporting law.

Mandated reporters, for example, would also be newly required to report instances they’ve learned of second-hand, if the allegation includes information about specific acts involving an identifiable child.

This has caused concern among some of the professionals who will have to live with the new laws.

“A lot of times this isn’t very clear, and two health care providers might come to different conclusions ,” said Thomas DeWall, a government relations consultant for the Pennsylvania Psychological Association.

“Now, (given the specter of enhanced penalties), they’re all going to report all kinds of situations and that’s going to flood the system. We think they’re going to be spending lots of resources chasing after reports of child abuse that are unfounded.”

But supporters argue that the bill’s language still gives the would-be reporters latitude to consider the credibility of their source.

And given the recent cases at Penn State and within the Philadelphia Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, they say it is clear that Pennsylvania’s reporting statutes need to be significantly strengthened.

Another of the bills set to be considered next week would raise the penalties for failing to report suspected child abuse charge to law enforcement or child welfare authorities.

The charge, a third-degree misdemeanor now, would be upgraded to a second-degree misdemeanor or – in cases of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, or aggravated assault – felony.

Another agreed-to bill would require all licensed professionals required to report suspected child abuse to receive regular training on abuse recognition and the state’s new reporting requirements as part of their ongoing requirements for licensure.

Other bills in the forthcoming package that could make it to Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk this week include:

* A bill requiring counties to create investigative teams to be used in child abuse investigations, with involvement from police, child welfare agencies and medical professionals.

The new teams would be required to establish standard protocols for child abuse probes designed to minimize trauma to children from a prolonged investigation and potential prosecution of a case.

* A bill requiring greater sharing of information between child welfare and law enforcement on child-centered investigations, including child custody cases. Those groups would also be entitled to some greater access to medical reports.

Because of the massive amount of retraining that will be required of child welfare workers, medical professionals, police, teachers and others, most of the new bills won’t take effect until the end of 2014.

That will also give the state Department of Public Welfare the ability to complete pending computer system upgrades that will set the stage for enhanced data sharing.

Still Heckler, Christian and other task force members reached this week said they have been monitoring the progress on the bills over the past year and, thus far, are satisfied with the results.

“From where I sit, I think that they have been very diligent in looking at the work that we gave them and in crafting legislation that really addresses a wide range of issues,” said Christian.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/12/pennsylvania_lawmakers_prepare_1.html