module 2: identifying child abuse and neglect page of 45 module 2: identifying child abuse and...

Module 2: Identifying Child Abuse and Neglect

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The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program



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15 minute rule Training Schedule - 9:00 to 4 :00 w/ breaks Document your presence- sign-in sheet Provide constructive & motivational feedback Respect Take risks Practice makes permanent Focus on learning - No cell phones & only contact

office for emergencies

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Recognize the value and use of the Casework Practice: Navigational Guide screening, investigation and assessment steps and the Six Domains in the identification of child abuse and neglect;

Identify the specific definitions of non-accidental serious physical injury, child sexual abuse, imminent risk, non-accidental serious mental injury, serious physical neglect, general protective services and student abuse as defined in Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law; and

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Recognize physical indicators and the family dynamics and behavior of child maltreatment.

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Day 1◦ Introduction to Identifying Child Abuse and Neglect◦Casework Practice: Navigational Guide and the Six

Domains◦Non-accidental Serious Physical Injury◦ Family Dynamics in Child Abuse and Neglect

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Day 2◦Child Sexual Abuse◦ Imminent Risk◦Non-accidental Serious Mental Injury◦Serious Physical Neglect◦General Protective Services and Child Neglect◦Student Abuse◦Conclusion

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Name three things that you do to care of yourself during times of stress.

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Receive and investigate all reports of child abuse; Implement a state-approved risk assessment process; Develop a county plan for the provision of protective

services; Include among the services for the prevention,

investigation and treatment of child abuse:◦ Instruction and education services;◦A multi-disciplinary team; and◦ Investigative teams.

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Receive all child abuse and general protective assessments 24/7;

Have procedures for ◦Child abuse investigations;◦Emergency placement and custody;◦Protect the well-being of children placed in out-of-home

care; and◦Administer a program of general protective services.

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What is the extent of maltreatment? What circumstances surrounding the maltreatment? What are the disciplinary approaches used by the

parent? What are the overall, typical pervasive parenting

practices used by the parent? How does the adult function in respect to daily life

management and general adaptation including mental health and substance use?

How do the children function, including their condition?

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The screening process is defined as the systematic gathering of information, which is then used as the

basis upon which two (2) major decisions are made:◦Should the referral be accepted for evaluation by the

agency?◦What is the response time?

Screening requires a comprehensive gathering of information from the referral source, including: ◦Reported allegations of abuse/neglect,◦Details related to the six domains,

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◦Screening requires a comprehensive gathering of information from the referral source, including: The current location of the children and the alleged

perpetrator, and Information related to safety threats and risk factors.

If the referral is not accepted for investigation or assessment, the information gathered helps the screener to determine if the reporter should be referred to another community agency for assistance. (Information & Referral)

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Refer to Handout #11 Imagine that you are a screener and you need to

gather relevant information from a reporter. Identify questions you would ask for each scenario

around the 6 Domains. Record your answers on flipchart to present to the

larger group.

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Best practice indicates that, after obtaining information from the referral source, interviews should occur in the following order:◦ the alleged child victim;◦ the siblings and/or other children;◦ the non-offending parent;◦ the alleged perpetrator; and◦ collateral witnesses: other family members to whom the

child may have disclosed (e.g., a friend or school teacher).

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Per Regulation 3490.55◦ The parent/caregiver, or another adult person of the

same sex as child, should be present but their permission is not needed.

◦ The child’s permission should be sought.◦ If child is resistant to the examination, photo should be

done by a medical provider.◦ If child is over 10 years, the exam must be done by a

CPS worker of the same sex as child if clothing is removed.

◦Most of the body can be exposed (bathing suit rule). Genitals can not be photographed.

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All injuries must be photographed or obtained. On back of photo, the following must be documented:◦Name of child;◦Case Number and suffix;◦Age of child at time of photograph;◦Photo taken by;◦Date of photograph;◦ Time photo was taken;◦ Location of photo;◦Names of any witnesses present;◦Signature of photographer (and printed name).

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“Indicated report” - a report pursuant to the CPSL is an investigation by CYS determined that substantial evidence of the alleged abuse/neglect exists based upon:◦Medical evidence;◦CPS investigation;◦Perpetrator admission.

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“Founded report” - a report made pursuant to CPSL, if there has been a judicial finding that the child who is the subject of the report has been abused or neglected.

“Unfounded report” – a report made pursuant to CPSL that is not a "founded report” or the CYS worker has determined that there is not substantial evidence to “indicate” a report of suspected abuse/neglect.

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Must involve a child, a perpetrator and an act of abuse as defined below:◦Child – person who is under the age of 18.◦Perpetrator – person who has committed child abuse and

is: A parent of a child. A paramour of a child’s parent. An individual 14 years of age or older residing in the same home as the child. A person responsible for the child’s welfare

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A CPSL Perpetrator can also be named as:◦Perpetrator by Commission: A person who actively

participated or sanctioned the abuse or neglect of the child.

◦Perpetrator by Omission: A person who by their failure to act allowed the child to be abused/neglected or willingly placed him/her at risk.

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Recent Non-accidental Serious Physical Injury; Nonaccidental Serious Mental Injury or Sexual Abuse

or Sexual Exploitation; Recent Imminent Risk of Serious Physical Injury or

Sexual Abuse or Sexual Exploitation; and Serious Physical Neglect

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Any recent act or failure to act by a perpetrator which causes a non-accidental serious physical injury to a child under 18 years of age.

Serious physical injury is an injury that:◦Causes a child severe pain; or◦Significantly impairs a child's functioning, either

temporarily or permanently. Recent act or omissions is defined in the CPSL

definition sections as those “acts or omissions committed within two years of the date of the report to the Department of Public Welfare or county agency.”

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First Inquiry: Determine if a serious physical injury has occurred.◦Significantly Impairs a Child’s Physical Functioning,

Temporarily or PermanentlyOR Causes a Child Severe Pain.

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Second Inquiry: Determine whether the serious physical injury was non-accidental.◦An Injury that is the Result of:

Intentional Act; Committed with Disregard;

OR◦Substantial and Unjustifiable Risk.

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Under Pennsylvania law, parents are not prohibited from using corporal (physical) discipline with their children. CPSL §6303 (c).

Therefore, it is permissible for parents to use corporal punishment to discipline their children.

Realistically, corporal punishment is undertaken with the intent to inflict pain.

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Therefore, a parent’s intent to inflict pain on their child or an intentional striking of a child by a parent does not automatically cause that act to be considered non-accidental or not allowable under Pennsylvania law.

However, these intentional acts can cross the line into non-accidental or unallowable acts.

The challenge for the child welfare professional is to determine whether the parent’s intentional act has crossed the line and was committed with a “disregard or a substantial and unjustifiable risk” and to document this determination with substantial evidence.

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The photographs of injured children have been removed from the web-based version of this presentation. If

you are a trainer and are in need of the photos associated with this portion of the presentation, please

contact the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program at (717) 795-9048.

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Parent must have the predisposition to abuse his/her children.

The maltreated child is perceived by the parent as being different and unsatisfactory.

There must be a crisis in the family, or added stress. Parent may not have sources of external support.

-Adopted from B. Steel: Conditions of Abuse.

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Day 2◦Child Sexual Abuse◦ Imminent Risk◦Non-accidental Serious Mental Injury◦Serious Physical Neglect◦General Protective Services and Child Neglect◦Student Abuse◦Conclusion

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Record all the words that you can think of that a child of any age might use when describing a body part or a sexual encounter in five minutes.

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An act or failure to act by a perpetrator which causes sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child under 18 years of age.

Sexual abuse or exploitation is defined as:◦ The employment, use, persuasion, inducement,

enticement or coercion of any child to engage in or assist in any sexually explicit conduct; or

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Sexual abuse or exploitation is defined as:◦ The employment, use persuasion, inducement,

enticement or coercion of any child to engage in or assist another individual to engage in simulation of sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depiction, including photographing videotaping, computer depicting and filming; or

◦Rape, sexual assault, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, molestation, incest, indecent exposure, prostitution, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation.

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Any kind of sexual interaction, use, exploitation, pictures, prostitution, etc., of a child by a caretaker

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Practice identifying appropriate/inappropriate sexual behavior for various age groups

Refer to Handouts # 22, #23, #24, #25 Identify if the behavior is:◦Appropriate◦Of concern◦Needs immediate professional intervention

If the behavior is appropriate, determine what appropriate behavior would be.

If the behavior is inappropriate, determine what the appropriate behavior would be.

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Imminent:◦ “Ready to take place” so the time frame for consideration

is the time during or immediately following the act or failure to act.

Risk:◦May be defined as a dangerous element or factor.

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In order to substantiate an act or failure to act as imminent risk, several findings must be made:◦ The victim must be a child under age 18 and there must

be an identified perpetrator.◦ The act or failure to act must be non-accidental.◦ The allegation must pertain to serious physical injury or

sexual abuse or exploitation. Serious mental injury and serious physical neglect do not apply.

◦ It must be a recent act, in other words, it must have occurred within two years of the date of the report.

◦A specific act or failure to act must have taken place

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The risk of abuse must be imminent:◦ (1) for serious physical injury, imminent means during

and/or immediately following the act or failure to act.◦ (2) for sexual abuse/exploitation, imminent means the

specific time frame during which the child was exposed to risk of such abuse.

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Any act or failure to act by a perpetrator that causes non-accidental serious mental injury to a child less than 18 years of age.

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Serious mental injury is psychological condition, as diagnosed by a physician or licensed psychologist, including the refusal of appropriate treatment, that:◦Renders a child chronically and severely anxious,

agitated, depressed, socially withdrawn, psychotic or causes reasonable fear that the child’s life or safety is threatened; or

◦Seriously interferes with a child’s ability to accomplish age-appropriate developmental and social tasks.

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Discuss and write down how Domestic Violence is displayed through the following indicators:◦Physical◦Emotional Psychological◦Sexual Abuse◦Economic Abuse

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Is a physical condition caused by:◦Act or failure to act of a perpetrator;

Endangers child’s life or development or impairs child’s functioning;

Due to:◦Prolonged/repeated lack of supervision;◦ Failure to provide essentials of life, including medical and

dental care-P.A. Code 3490.4

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Services to prevent the potential for harm to a child.◦Potential for harm: likely, if permitted to continue, to

have a detrimental effect on the child’s health, development or functioning.

Services to insure the safety and well-being of a child. Services provided by each county for non-abuse

cases.

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The serious bodily injury or sexual abuse or sexual exploitation to a student by a school employee.◦Student:

Individual under 18 years old enrolled in school.◦School employees:

Persons employed by or under contract with a school.

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Only 2 types of abuse are included in student abuse:◦Sexual abuse/exploitation◦Serious bodily injury

Substantial risk of death. Serious permanent disfigurement. Protracted loss. Impairment of an organ or other body part.

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