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This past weekend I decided to give my sister a day of rest and relaxation by taking my 5 year old niece for the day. Not having a lot of activities to do with a child at home, we decided that I would take her to the shopping mall. The day was going well, we got icecream, picked out a new outfit for her and browsed the stuffed animal store. Trying to appease her insatiable appetite for dolls, we hit the big box store to check out the toy department. While she was getting her fix, I bumped into my co-worker Bonnie. We chatted not two minutes before I turned around and my niece was gone! After searching high and low in toys, the panic set in. I rushed to the customer service desk and got them to issue a missing child alert. Thankfully after a few minutes, which seemed like hours, a store employee walked up hand in hand with my niece. As it turns out she caught a glimpse of the pet department and “wanted to see the fishies”. Embarrassed, but very thankful, I decided to take her home. I realize things could have turned out a lot worse and I definitely learned an important child safety rule - never turn your back on a child in your care. maybe before our next trip I’ll get my sister to invest in one of those child tracking systems. But first I need my own day of rest and relaxation!

Aside from the very simple fact that it’s a moral responsibility that is on the shoulders of EVERYONE to report/stop child abuse or neglect, for those who have ever wondered who has a legal mandate here’s a list:

• A doctor, nurse, dentist or any other physical or mental health care professional
• A hospital administrator
• A school principal, teacher or any other teaching professional
• Any owner, operator or employee in a daycare center.
• A guidance counselor
• Anyone whose employment requires or includes the care of a child or children or in whose custody a child is placed – camp counselors, nanny.

How far does the legal obligation stretch? Well, without burdening you with a tangle of almost indecipherable legalese the obligation extends to knowing or suspecting that a child has or will be abused, abandoned or neglected in any way.  The legal obligation super cedes well known precedents like client attorney privilege and doctor patient confidentiality.

So considering how sweeping these obligations are, it should be surprising how often child abuse goes unreported.  And the worst of it is that you just know that there are people who are close to that child – a parent, neighbor, close family member or friend who know what’s happening.

Strange isn’t it, that a legal obligation can sit on an essential stranger but not on a close friend.