Essay
A bill for an act relating to child maltreatment; modifying child maltreatment reporting; creating a criminal penalty for preventing a report. The modification made will be “ A corporation, school, nonprofit organization, religious organization, facility as defined in section 260E.03, subdivision 6, or similar entity must not have any policies, written or otherwise, that prevent or discourage a mandatory or voluntary reporter from reporting suspected or alleged maltreatment of a child in accordance with this section” and “A person who intentionally prevents or attempts to prevent a person mandated by section 260E.06, subdivision 1, to report under this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor.” As stated in the bill.
I support this bill because more facilities will not be held back from reporting maltreatment of a child. According to Familywise.com “22 deaths and 23 life-threatening injuries resulted from child maltreatment.” in Minnesota alone. Encouraging these facilities may prevent these statistics.
The next reason is it will make trying to prevent a report of child maltreatment a crime. This bill will make this a misdemeanor. Which is punishable 90 day jail time or up to $1000 in fines. The same charge as not reporting if mandated. This will help charge the people who are preventing child’s safety.
My third reason is it encourages mandated reporters to report child maltreatment. Minnesota already has many laws about mandated reporting. Such as, misdemeanor for not reporting, being liable for a civil suit if falsely reporting, etc… This bill will put more restrictions on the reporting of child maltreatment and help many children in the process.
There are possible flaws of this bill. This bill might be thought to overstep facilities boundaries or the right to privacy. This might cause some discord in certain places affected by this bill.
This bill helps mandated reporters and children affected by maltreatment, around Minnesota. Certain facilities will not be withheld to the right to report child maltreatment. It will also make trying to prevent a report a misdemeanor. I truly believe this will be a great addition to the child abuse and maltreatment acts.
FamilyWise Services. “Child Abuse in Minnesota - FamilyWise.” FamilyWise, 27 Feb. 2024, familywiseservices.org/child-abuse-prevention/child-abuse-in-minnesota/#:~:text=Child%20Abuse%20Statistics%20in%20Minnesota&text=31%2C258%20child%20maltreatment%20reports%20were,injuries%20resulted%20from%20child%20maltreatment.
PA, Caplan &. Tamburino Law Firm. “A Breakdown of Misdemeanors in Minnesota.” Caplan & Tamburino Law Firm, P.A., 7 June 2022, www.caplantamburino.com/blog/2022/june/a-breakdown-of-misdemeanors-in-minnesota.
Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect - Minnesota | Child Welfare Information Gateway. www.childwelfare.gov/resources/mandatory-reporting-child-abuse-and-neglect-minnesota
Minnesota Department of Human Services. Minnesota’s Child Maltreatment Report, 2020. report, 2022, www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2022/mandated/220199.pdf.
