<em>This is an excerpt from Laura Hazen’s article, <a href="http://www.irelandstapleton.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Preventing-and-Responding-to-Allegations-of-Abuse.pdf">Preventing and Responding to Allegations of Abuse and Neglect Against Early Childhood Educators</a>.  Click <a href="http://www.irelandstapleton.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Preventing-and-Responding-to-Allegations-of-Abuse.pdf">here</a> to download a complete copy of this article.</em>

<strong>HOW DOES IT ARISE? </strong>

Receiving a letter from a Colorado County, a visit from local law enforcement or the knock of the process server with a civil complaint is a nightmare for any ECE professional.

In the ECE field, complaints of child abuse and neglect often follow these fact patterns:
<ul>
	<li>Child-on-child exploratory incident, which occurred while the children were left in the care of a teacher;</li>
	<li>Sexual abuse of a child by a teacher;</li>
	<li>Neglect of a child by a teacher, where the child was physically injured while under the supervision of the teacher; or</li>
	<li>Physical/emotional abuse of a child by a teacher, as the result of rough handling or emotional abuse of the child.</li>
</ul>
Even the most cursory review of these fact patterns gives rise to a myriad of imagined "best intentions, worst results" scenarios, in addition to the nightmare scenarios.  You are on the playground, within ratio, but texting your husband about an important personal issue.  A child falls from the playground equipment and another child identifies you as "the one with the phone", resulting in a neglect charge.  You discover that you have a lot in common with an older student.  She calls and suggests that you meet up for a coffee before camp, to discuss some issues she is having with school.  You do, believing her parents approved the meeting.  In fact, they did not, and they think that your interaction was inappropriate.  A child is running down a path, headlong toward a fence.  You reach out to stop the child, grabbing the child by the arm, resulting in a shoulder injury … and a charge of rough handling/physical abuse.
<h1><strong>Preventing Allegations</strong></h1>
All of those who work with children – whether as private care providers or county/state officials – have one shared goal:  Keep children safe.  This simple goal can be divided into two parts:  reducing the opportunities for abuse <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> increasing awareness of common, "best intention" scenarios that often give rise to abuse claims.

One way to accomplish these goals is to make decisions ahead of time about how you will handle certain situations like bathroom breaks, off-duty interactions and other informal communications.  Consider taking the following steps:
<ul>
	<li>Hiring issues
<ul>
	<li>Conduct the required background checks.</li>
	<li>Consider comparing employees against the list of registered sex offenders in their neighborhood, as a "belt and suspenders" check.</li>
	<li>Consider private background checks.</li>
	<li>Consider whether questions should be asked in the interview or included on an application - Have you ever reported abuse? What is your understanding of mandatory reporter laws?  In some ways the answer is less important than the potential employee's demeanor when responding.  You can train around a lack of knowledge but if your intuition is telling you that this person is unsafe, question whether that can be fixed.</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>Physical abuse
<ul>
	<li>Adopt a zero tolerance policy on corporal punishment.</li>
	<li>Consider your "stop gap" policies. How do you support teachers "on the brink?" Do you have a culture where employees support each other if they are tired, stressed or being worked over by a 2 year old?  What kind of breaks do you allow for teachers who just need, as I like to call them, a "fake smoke break" for a deep breath outside.</li>
	<li>How do you assess whether a potential employee is appropriately suited for a particular age group?  Different people have different reactions to different age groups and frustration can lead to bad judgment.</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>Reporting issues
<ul>
	<li>Partner with your county and with licensing for training, as they are able to participate.</li>
	<li>Do everything you can to create a "culture of reporting."</li>
	<li>Report any incident of abuse, neglect or maltreatment to the appropriate agencies.</li>
	<li>Ensure that employees understand that they are mandatory reports, and must report any claims of abuse, neglect or maltreatment to the county or law enforcement officials <span style="text-decoration: underline;">directly</span>; reporting to their supervisor or the center director is not sufficient.</li>
	<li>Include in your policy a notice that employees will not suffer retaliation if they report abuse.</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>Sexual abuse
<ul>
	<li>Adopt "body safety rules," such as those found at parentingsafechildren.com.</li>
	<li>Consider periodically requesting a list of the sex offenders in the surrounding areas so that you know where to take kids on walks and what streets to avoid.</li>
	<li>Familiarize yourself with the U.S. Department of Justice Guidelines for the Screening of Persons Working with Children.<a title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a></li>
	<li>Do not allow older children to sit on your lap.</li>
	<li>Do not kiss children on the lips.</li>
	<li>If very young children want hugs, do not hug children for a long time.  Establish a policy of using "side hugs" and not "front hugs" in your center.</li>
	<li>Install programs on your computers to prevent employees from accessing pornographic cites.</li>
	<li>Give notice to employees that, under no circumstances will company hardware be used to view or share pornographic or even adult material.  Facebook is fun, but "friends" post silly things that may be grossly inappropriate for small children.</li>
	<li>Give notice to employees that they have no expectation of privacy in their lockers, purses, computers, phones, etc. brought on site, within the bounds of the law.</li>
	<li>Enforce your own policies consistently and often.</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>Prevention policies - eliminate the opportunity for a predator in your environment AND protect innocent, bad decisions that make safe teachers look like predators.
<ul>
	<li>Never spend time alone with students.</li>
	<li>Always allow parents access to their children.</li>
	<li>Never share overnight space with children other than your own.</li>
	<li>Maintain ratios and consider staffing above ratios to avoid ever leaving staff alone with children.</li>
	<li>Never completely darken a room, even during naptime – allow some light.</li>
	<li>Install windows (in bathroom doors for younger children and classroom doors in all classrooms) whenever possible to increase visibility.</li>
	<li>Rearrange furniture in a classroom to encourage 100 percent visibility.</li>
	<li>Consider whether you need a verbal call and response policy similar to that which some centers use for feeding infants.  Instead of "I am now feeding Jake a bottle of breast milk; his rubber band color is blue" consider "I am now taking Jake alone to the bathroom; I should be back by 9:05."  This kind of policy can make the decision the difference.</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>For individuals
<ul>
	<li>Educate yourself on mandatory reporting issues and on liability prevention; do not rely solely on your employer.</li>
	<li>Lawyer up, when necessary.  A neglect charge could end your career.  How much is that worth?</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>Policy considerations
<ul>
	<li>Make a decision about bathroom, shower and changing area use and procedure.</li>
	<li>Craft a clear policy for swimming pools.</li>
	<li>If parents do choose to hire staff as babysitters, require them to sign a release, even including it as part of the registration packet.</li>
	<li>Review your diapering procedure and enforce use of gloves.</li>
	<li>Create a "volunteer" tour and other third party policies to confirm who is allowed to enter the center, why and when.</li>
	<li>Craft a payment policy – parents who owe money are, at times, your biggest worries.</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>Other training issues
<ul>
	<li>Train staff on how the introduction of adult topics into their conversations with each other can become fodder for abuse allegations as children overhear and lines become blurred.</li>
	<li>Train staff on the ways in which personal use of social media can lead to liability – liability that may be personal to them as well as to the center.</li>
	<li>Work with the county and your licensing specialist on scheduling trainings, when they are able, to confirm their buy-in on your procedures and to foster a healthy, communicative relationship with both.</li>
	<li>Be explicit in your training – don't hesitate to mention something that you think is obvious, or that needs to be said but feels "uncomfortable."</li>
	<li>Adopt a clear policy with respect to photographs – no photographs should ever be taken of any naked body parts.  Make a deliberate decision about whether <span style="text-decoration: underline;">any</span> photographs of children are necessary and allowed. What if only a school camera were used?</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>Other general, process issues
<ul>
	<li>Take the allegation seriously; report, investigate and document.</li>
	<li>Participate in the process appropriately and with help.</li>
	<li>Keep your cool.  If you can't, allow your attorney to act as a liaison.</li>
	<li>Just the facts ma'am; Don't make unnecessary admissions /disclosures.</li>
	<li>Consult counsel – criminal and civil.</li>
	<li><strong>Don't wait to respond!</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
Deciding what to do in a situation before it happens eliminates some last minute decision-making which may not be as well thought out.  Premeditation helps to provide a roadmap in circumstances where the path may be grey.

<em>Notice: Ireland Stapleton Pryor and Pascoe, PC is pleased to provide you with this information.  This information is provided for your general reference, and is not intended to be, and should not be relied upon as legal advice, or as a substitute for the advice of qualified legal counsel.  As legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case, nothing provided herein should be used as a substitute for advice of competent counsel.  This information is not intended to create any legal relationship between our firm or any attorney and the user. </em>
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<a title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> A .PDF of one version of this document is available at this website: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/167248.pdf.

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