Child Abuse Reporting Laws: The Shape of the Legislation

Creating State or Regional Dental Registries to Identify Pediatric Dental Abuse or Neglect

“…Our current child welfare services, including services for dental neglect and abuse, has a genesis dating back to the 1960s following the publication of "The Battered Child Syndrome" by Dr. Henry Kempe and colleagues and which focused primarily on physical abuse, and subsequently on sexual abuse [3]. Because the evolutionary development of legal responses to pediatric dental abuse and neglect has never been a primary focus of legislatures [4], the recognition by dental professionals of their role as mandatory reporters has been somewhat slower than recognition by other health care professionals serving the medical needs of children [5]. Today, dental professionals are clearly recognized as mandatory reporters of oral injuries indicating possible child abuse or child neglect [6].…”

On child abuse: Values and analytic approaches

“…It is this narrow approach to the problem of child abuse which is reflected in the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, in most state child abuse acts and in the child abuse reporting statutes (Light, 1973;Paulsen, 1967). This is so because the statutes, the federal act and most state acts fail to enunciate explicitly values concerning children and fail to recognize explicitly the existence of collective and institutional abuse.…”

Review of The Role of Professional Background, Case Characteristics, and Protective Agency Response in Mandated Child Abuse Reporting.

“…With the active encouragement of the U.S. Children's Bureau, which disseminated model legislation, together with an unending stream of press reports that led to calls for action, early advocates succeeded admirably in making child maltreatment a major social issue. During the 1960s, every state rushed to enact a child abuse reporting law (Paulsen, Parker, and Adelman, 1966), and child abuse identification and reporting became significant priorities for at least some medical and human service professionals. PrEISS interest played a critical role in promoting legislative and citizen concern about the quality and quantity of child protective services.…”

“…Initial reporting laws singled out physicians as the key professional group whose members were required to report suspected abuse (Fraser, 1986). This focus on physicians reflected the fact that child abuse was then viewed as a condition that could best be diagnosed medically (Paulsen et al, 1966)-a perception that owed much to Kempe and his colleagues' pioneering work.…”