Fontana Child Abuse Reporting Bill Passes Senate Unanimously

Last week the Senate reached a very important milestone for the children of Pennsylvania with the passage of my Senate Bill 31 (SB 31).  This legislation will toughen child abuse reporting requirements in schools.  I have worked with many stakeholders over the past eight years and Senate approval of this measure has been long overdue. 

Under the Child Protection Law, current school employees are only required to report child abuse incidents to their supervisors who then may decide whether it rises to a level of reporting it to ChildLine or to law enforcement.  Childline is a program within the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) that accepts calls from the public which provides information, counseling, and referral services for authorities or victims of abuse. 

SB 31 would remove the different reporting requirement for school employees and put them on the same level as other mandated reporters.  This measure also requires that an incident be reported directly to Childline or the police within 24 hours. It covers all students, from kindergarten through college. 

This legislation was inspired by a distraught mother who called me and said her son had been transported from school to an emergency room. The child had bleeding brush burns, choke marks around his neck and broken blood vessels in his face -- all caused by a teacher.  Even though the mother, emergency room doctor and social worker all tried reporting the incident to Childline, they were told that the law prevented investigation because the injuries were not deemed serious enough. 

Since 2005, I have introduced a bill on this matter because no parent should ever have to go through what my constituent and her son had to face.  After all, schools should be a place of learning and sometimes procedures need to be reviewed and changed in order to protect students’ health and safety. 

SB 31 joins a bipartisan package of bills which provides for sweeping reform by updating Pennsylvania’s child protection laws as recommended by the bicameral Legislative Task Force on Child Protection.  The task force was created by the General Assembly to thoroughly review state laws and procedures governing child protection and the reporting of child abuse.  It issued a report last year that called for numerous changes to Pennsylvania’s laws.

Teachers and schools have more direct contact with students than any other profession and I believe the reporting structure for child abuse should be the same, no matter who the perpetrator.  Furthermore, my legislation alleviates any reporting confusion and fast tracks a child or student receiving the necessary help in a more timely fashion. 

We need to be more vigilant about protecting our kids and I am pleased that SB 31 received unanimous bipartisan support in the Senate.   I am hopeful that heightened public awareness and pressure will help advance many of the child protection bills under consideration in Harrisburg with quick passage in the House.