Implementing a Collaborative Support Model for Educators Reporting Child Maltreatment

Collaboration of Child Protective Services and Early Childhood Educators: Enhancing the Well-Being of Children in Need

“…Through professional training, they can unravel situations if something is not right with the child in their practices, including finding out if the child is physically harmed or if the child behaves increasingly different from what can be deemed normal or expected from the child. Bell and Singh (2017) and Hood et al (2017) indicated that the probability of an educator recognising abuse or neglect is high.…”

“…Reflections from practice indicated that even though CPS has the role of organising child protection in the area, including the assessment of children in need and to decide interventions, principals assumed partial roles of CPS by initiating the process of unofficial assessment with parents and involving CPS in the case of unsuccessful engagement. Bell and Singh (2017) argued that educators are not responsible for investigating and determining whether maltreatment occurred, but they are responsible for reporting any reasonable suspicion. One of the reasons for principals assuming the task of inquiring about the case might be dissatisfaction with the lack of motivation and experiences of not receiving needed help from CPS in the past.…”

“…Benbenishty and Fluke ( 2021 , p. 24) argued that “decisions in child welfare are highly uncertain, even with vocational education”. Early childhood educators are in a more complex position because their vocational education does not focus on child protection matters.…”

Are Elementary Schools Ready for Disaster Preparedness and Safety?

“…Educators often face obstacles in dealing with child abuse because of the uncertainty of school reporting policies and procedures (30). School-based emergency procedures and continuous evaluation system are needed using appropriate indicators to ensure the consistency of preparedness effort in every school, which is hoped to improve community resilience holistically and improve public safety (Aronsson-Storrier & da Costa, 2017; Ghafory-Ashtiany & Parsizadeh, 2010; Johnston, Tipler, Tarrant, & Tuffin, 2016; R. Ronan, Peace, M. Johnston, & A. Johnson, 2014; Tipler, Tarrant, Johnston, & Tuffin, 2017).…”

An Exploratory Study to Assess School Principals’ Knowledge of Child Welfare Policies

“…What happens when a student is suspected to have experienced abuse or neglect has left educators uncertain about how to respond to the allegations after meeting mandated reporter requirements (Coughlin & Dotger, 2016; McKee & Dillenburger, 2009; Vanbergeijk, 2007). School districts that have not enacted a policy for how district employees are to interact with the child welfare system leave principals having to decide on their own what happens when a child welfare worker arrives at the school (Bartucci, 2012; Bell & Singh, 2017). The importance of this study is that the paucity of research on child welfare interviews taking place at schools has left unanswered what knowledge school principals have to respond to child welfare interview requests based on the statutes or policies in a given state.…”