If someone tells Keith Bidlingmaier a child is being abused or neglected, the volunteer chief of the Fairless Hills Fire Co. is required to report it to child welfare authorities or face potential consequences including arrest.
But if Bidlingmaier personally witnesses suspected abuse outside his volunteer duties, he isn’t under the same legal obligation to report it.
It’s a loophole in the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law that one Montgomery County lawmaker — a former county prosecutor — wants closed.
Rep. Todd Stephens, R-151, of Horsham, said his legislation would explicitly require mandated child abuse reporters to make a report whenever they witness an abusive act. The bill unanimously passed out of the House Children and Youth Committee in January, the first step toward a full House vote.
“My legislation makes it clear to both mandated reporters and those who train them that reporting child abuse one has personally witnessed is paramount among the responsibilities that come with being a mandated reporter,” Stephens wrote in a co-sponsorship memo.
But the bill has received push-back from some child advocates concerned that it could lead to more erroneous abuse reports creating a backlog that delays child welfare response for children facing imminent danger.
Mandatory reporters include licensed health care workers, school employees, child care service providers, religious leaders, social workers, and other employees and volunteers who have regular, direct interaction with children including youth sports coaches and Sunday school teachers. Last year seven Pennsylvanians were charge with failure to report child abuse, according to state court data.
tephens said he learned about the reporting gap in the current law from a state organization that provides training in child abuse reporting.
Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance President and CEO Angela Liddle said the gap is something that comes up in virtually every child abuse training the organization does for mandatory reporters.
“People kept saying, ‘This doesn’t make sense,’” Liddle said.
Stephens agreed.
“Shouldn’t they be required to report what they personally see?” he said. “I think it’s pretty simple.”
But it’s not simple, according to some child welfare advocates and others.
Some mandated reporters have little, if any, child abuse training and only limited direct contact with children in the course of their job or volunteer service, child welfare advocates said. Pennsylvania doesn’t require volunteers be trained in child abuse recognition and reporting, though professionals must update the training every five years.
“If everyone is making calls because we want to avoid legal liability, it may mean we have a bucket of reports that is much bigger than what comes close to constituting child abuse,” said Cathleen Palm, founder and executive director of the Center for Children’s Justice, in Berks County. “That has implications in that, what is the magic recipe? Which reports do we respond to? Are we reporting because of liability purpose or because we really believe a child is a victim of abuse?”
State statistics show the vast majority of abuse reports are unfounded and the number is rising.
The number of confirmed abuse reports has declined from 12 percent in 2012 to 10 percent in 2016, the most recent year data was available. Meanwhile, the abuse referrals climbed 68 percent, from 26,352 to 44,359, over that same time period.
The data also shows that it’s taking longer to investigate abuse reports, creating a potential backlog that could take longer to work through.
According to ChildLine, the state’s child abuse hotline, the number of referrals reviewed within 30 days dropped from 49 percent to 44 percent between 2013 and 2016.
Bidlingmaier, the volunteer fire chief, also expressed concerns that legally mandating people to make judgement calls about things they see outside their volunteer service oversteps boundaries.
“What you don’t want to happen is a chilling effect on people who’d want to volunteer,” he said. “That is certainly a concern.”
Liddle acknowledged that the bill could lead to more unfounded child abuse reports, but protecting children has to take priority.
“What is the alternative?” she said.
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