Reason to clarify abuse reporting law

Gazette Editorial Board

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We don't know yet whether anyone at Iowa City's Broadway Neighborhood Center abused a child there. The mother of a 3-year-old girl accused a teacher of sexual abuse. Police continue to investigate.

Meanwhile, the state's first-ever trial of a mandatory reporter accused of failing to report such abuse ended May 11 in a not-guilty verdict for Susan Freeman-Murdah, director of the Iowa City center. Before it concluded, prosecutors said the mandatory reporter law is confusing and may need clarification.

If that's the case, and we believe it may well be, state rules-makers and legislators should figure out how to improve the law so that potential victims are protected and mandatory reporters can still do their jobs.

Freeman-Murdah, arrested Feb. 1, was accused of not taking the mother's complaint seriously and reporting it to the Iowa Department of Human Services, as the mandatory reporter law requires.

The defense argued there was “no evidence” that Freeman-Murdah could reasonably believe an allegation of sexual abuse involving her staff, and that her years of experience and training gave her a base of sound judgment. If a mandatory reporter is not allowed room for judgment, “there would be a lot of people at DHS who would be very, very busy with complaints that would have been previously filtered out ...,” argued defense attorney Leon Spies.

The prosecution responded that under Spies' argument, no matter what evidence is heard, if a reporter didn't believe it, it makes the law virtually impossible to violate.

In the end, this case didn't really settle anything regarding Iowa's law on mandatory reporters - professionals who have frequent contact with children, generally in one of six disciplines: health, mental health education, child care, law enforcement and social work.

The statute says mandatory reporters must make a report of abuse within 24 hours when they “reasonably believe” a child has suffered abuse. The judge in the Iowa City case pointed to what he says may be a flaw in the law: The “reasonable belief” threshold. “It's unfortunate that the Legislature chose those words,” Judge Stephen Gerard said.

If that language can't be changed without further muddying the law, the standards for training mandatory reporters could be the next thing to review. Mandatory reporters must take two hours of state-approved training in the first six months on the job and two more hours every five years after that. Is it adequate? Administered consistently? Often enough?

Determining whether child abuse has been committed is often difficult. Eyewitness accounts hard to come by. But we owe it to our children to keep improving the process.

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