Report abuse to the cops
Many states, including Ohio, have mandated reporting laws when it comes to suspected child abuse -- that is people in certain occupations are required to report suspicions of child abuse to the authorities. These include teachers and school administrators, social workers, medical personnel and others. You're a teacher and a child comes to class with a handprint welt on his face, you report it. A child writes in a journal submitted to the teacher that she is being molested at home, you report it.
The idea is that kids need protection and one of the best ways to ensure that they get it is to let the people who know how to turn suspicions over to the people who know how to nvestigate such matters as quickly as possible--that means the local child protective agencies and the police--usually both. It's not OK to ignore such warning signs if you are a responsible person, It is not OK to choose not to get involved because you're worried about somebody's reputation or the impact it might have on you.
So, it looks like we need to add "all public officials" to the list of mandated reporters.
Anybody who has been following the story of the congressional pages subjected to the unacceptable attentions off now ex-congressman Mark Foley, R-Fla., knows what I am talking about. Several of this creep's congressional colleagues knew about the messages, knew about what the behavior implied, knew that the pages were underage teens -- and yet all they did (at most) was privately tell Foley to knock it off and then passed their concerns on (maybe) to House leadership (who also did nothing).
This includes, apparantly, John Boehner, R-West Chester, who first told the Washington Post he reported the matter to Speaker Dennis Hastert months ago, and then said he couldn't remember if he had or not.
Memo to all members of Congress: The next time you hear that some adult is trying to proposition children, your first reaction shouldn't be to call a caucus, it should be to call the cops. Then you will be sure to remember that you did the right thing.
posted by David Wells at 5:55 AM
5 Comments:
at 10:33 AM, October 03, 2006 
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at 11:36 PM, October 03, 2006 
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at 10:00 AM, October 04, 2006 
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at 12:51 AM, October 05, 2006 
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at 10:02 AM, October 08, 2006 
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Post a Comment*David,
This seems to point to a deeper issue, doesn't it?:
Do our political leaders believe they are above the law?
People argue that atheletes and musicians should be aware of their impact on youth and lead by exmaple. Those athletes and musicians often argue back that they are just entertainers doing a job.
Certainly, our political leaders can make no such argument. As leaders and role models, aren't they obligated to hold themselves to a higher standard? This story (of Mr. Foley and his quiet colleagues) is another in a long list of political leaders putting themselves above the law, above reproach, and beyond basic standards of common decency and adult behavior.
To borrow from another blog post, Where is the outrage?
Thank you for publishing this blog. I think it serves us all to have this kind of forum.
-Chris Bortz
If we can't trust them with our children, why would we trust them with our country, our state or our county?
With our nation on the world's stage more than ever - we certainly are looking like devils.
I am so ashamed.
I'm equally concerned about the comment in the article yesterday pertaining to the secrecy involved in the foster children program. It stated that if the caseworkers investigate the conditions children have been living in, they don't have to report any crime they find, even if one has been commited. And so the system perpetuates itself.
What has happened in congress, is unforgivable. Our legislators on both sides of the aisle have become immune to anything except retaining their own power structure and feathering their own nests, They blandly talk about what's best for their constituents, without any idea what those people, need or want. They will keep anyone in office, and protect each other as long as it means that their causes will be supported and furthered. And they will pass the blame in an instant if their kingdom is threatened.
Until we as voters actually listen to what these people are proposing, investigate them individually, and demand that they represent us when they get to the state capitol, or Washington, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We have the opportunity to make changes in November, but how many registered voters will sit at home and never go to the polls. If you don't vote, you don't have nay right to complain!
Until this happens, men like Mr. Foley will continue to serve in Washington and our families will continue to be at risk.
To me there are only two questions that matter. What did the House leadership know? What did the House leadership do?
Most of the publicity has focused on the notion that the House leadership only found out the embarassind details last Friday. Who cares? Doesn't this really miss the point?
Congressman Boehner pushed the blame to the Speaker saying that he (Boehner) did his job by telling the Speaker about the rumors about Foley last spring.
Congressman Boehner said that as far as he was concerned he did his job by telling the Speaker and as far as he was concerned the ball was in the Speaker's court.
Let me get this striaght. Boehner tells the Speaker that one of the GOP House Members---the one that chairs the GOP committee on exploited children---may have inappropriate contact with some pages and then he (Boehner) believes that he has done all that is expected of him? What kind of leadership is that?
Shouldn't leaders be expected to act when they see something that is just plain wrong. Are we really expected to believe that Boehner and other GOP leaders really didn't know what virtually every page and several other House members had known for years---That Foley had exhibited some behaviors and communications towards some of the pages that were suspicious at best and indefensible at worst?
How stupid do these guys think the public is? Are they really asking us to believe that on something this explosive that the leadership did not have any interest in getting any more information?
If Boehner and the other GOP leaders think the public is that stupid then he and the whole lot of them should resign their leadership posts.
It is not only what was known, it is more importantly what SHOULD have been known and what was knowable had they tried.
To me the deal is very simple. Boehner and Hastert and the rest of them made a choice. They decided to turn thier heads to what was initially known and hope the public would never find out.
What kind of leader hears that one of the House Members may be hovering over under aged kids and decides to limit his involvement to simply passing the buck to the speaker---never to discuss it again?
Come on, Enquirer, get your act together and do some reporting. I'd like to see more about what Boehner knew and what he did about it - and I'd like to see it somewhere other than just online or in the blogosphere. He's the House Majority Leader, he should be showing some real leadership to the party of Family Values, and the Enquirer should be reporting it.
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