I was reading an article and came upon a mention that social workers in South Carolina have a child abuser registry that they use. I know one problem with those who abuse children is that they often are allowed to move on and there is no record of the abuse so they are free to do it again.
Do you think that we should have a registry for child abusers the way we do for those who commit sex crimes?
I think if a plea bargain is reached or a person is convicted of child abuse then they should go on a child abuser registry. IF they get therapy for a prolonged period, manage to stay free of drugs and alcohol for 5 years then they can appeal to be taken off the registry. UNLESS a child died or was maimed. If they are ever again convicted of child abuse of any kind, they go on the registry and stay on it.
This should be checked before a person can work with children in a school, daycare, church or any kind of program including camps and private music, dance, art, etc... lessons. Parents should be able to check this before they hire a babysitter.
It wouldn't be that easy, and would have a lot of bugs to be worked out. It just seems to be a way we could protect our kids a little better from the various people out there who have no business being around kids.
It would be an issue if someone on the registry had kids or was pregnant. In that case I think there should be frequent checks from social services and a way to have the child's medical records flagged so taht any abuse that a doctor sees during an exam would be automatically forwarded via computer to social services. That would take the "do I report it or don't I?" question out of the picture. I know quite a few people who are "the greatest guy" or "an awesome mom" when seen in the community but they are terrible to their kids at home and if the docs ever looked at the kids' medical records with-o names they would identify the kids as abused with no question. But because the parent's reputation in the community these are overlooked or ignored because "no one would believe it".
I know for some of us this would be hard, esp with kdis like those of our difficult children who report abuse for every little thing or not getting their way. There would have to be some method of balancing that against the rest of the circumstances to keep those who are wrongly accused from being put on the registry.
Do you think this could be workable? Good idea? Bad idea? Something that should have access limited to social workers and/or law enforcement rather than being public the way the sex offender registry is?
Do you think that we should have a registry for child abusers the way we do for those who commit sex crimes?
I think if a plea bargain is reached or a person is convicted of child abuse then they should go on a child abuser registry. IF they get therapy for a prolonged period, manage to stay free of drugs and alcohol for 5 years then they can appeal to be taken off the registry. UNLESS a child died or was maimed. If they are ever again convicted of child abuse of any kind, they go on the registry and stay on it.
This should be checked before a person can work with children in a school, daycare, church or any kind of program including camps and private music, dance, art, etc... lessons. Parents should be able to check this before they hire a babysitter.
It wouldn't be that easy, and would have a lot of bugs to be worked out. It just seems to be a way we could protect our kids a little better from the various people out there who have no business being around kids.
It would be an issue if someone on the registry had kids or was pregnant. In that case I think there should be frequent checks from social services and a way to have the child's medical records flagged so taht any abuse that a doctor sees during an exam would be automatically forwarded via computer to social services. That would take the "do I report it or don't I?" question out of the picture. I know quite a few people who are "the greatest guy" or "an awesome mom" when seen in the community but they are terrible to their kids at home and if the docs ever looked at the kids' medical records with-o names they would identify the kids as abused with no question. But because the parent's reputation in the community these are overlooked or ignored because "no one would believe it".
I know for some of us this would be hard, esp with kdis like those of our difficult children who report abuse for every little thing or not getting their way. There would have to be some method of balancing that against the rest of the circumstances to keep those who are wrongly accused from being put on the registry.
Do you think this could be workable? Good idea? Bad idea? Something that should have access limited to social workers and/or law enforcement rather than being public the way the sex offender registry is?