Rabbi Rosenberg's life is in danger. There are many who are attempting to discredit him and or set him up because he has been speaking out against a community that cares more about money then they do the safety of their children.
I also fear that there are some in law enforcement who wish him ill. We all need to do what ever is possible to protect him. After several conversations I had with a particular individual I have a strong feeling that he or his family might be harmed again.
Let this be a warning that those of us who are connected to The Awareness Center are watching and demanding that he be protected.
(Rabbi Rosenberg's name is also spelled Nuchem Rosenberg or Nochum Rosenberg)
The attacks against Rabbi Rosenberg seem to happen when he's trying to go to synagogue to pray. Even though those who trying to harm him are Jewish -- I personally believe this should be considered a hate crime.
Rabbi Nauchm Rosenberg has been advocating for Jewish survivors of sexual violence in Williamsburg/Borough Park (Brooklyn) New York for over 35 years.
Over the last several months he had his life threatened if he did not close down a hotline in which he would explain to parents and children how to report sex crimes. After the second time he was warned at gun point he closed down the hot-line. Right before the Jewish holiday of Sukkot he left a message wishing the Jewish people a good holiday. During the week of Sukot he was on his way to pray at shul when there was a drive by shooting in which attempted to kill him.
Please listen to him tell his story and demand that he is protected. His goal is to help survivors make police reports and testify in court to help put an end to sex crimes in his community and around the globe.
NOTE: this is a four part series. Please watch all 4 parts.
Part 1 (in this part Rabbi Rosenberg was repeating the presentation he did at Cardozo Law School at a press event)
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
8 comments:
I too have been shocked at having to realise the level of ritual abuse and other abuse in orthodox Jewish communities,. Within the UK i have worked with families who have had to go into hiding because of death threats and attacks because they had the courage to go to the secular child protection authorities and the actual police when the religious authorities failed to offer protection. Public shame, humiliation, putting up of posters in synagogues around the world-this is all part of it. All orthodox groups seem to behave in this terrible way.
It's not all Orthodox groups. Rav Hershel Schachter the Rosh Yeshiva of RIETS, one of the leading scholars in the world, says that it is permissible to call the secular authorities on molesters.
I think these videos are useful and true and I hope the Rabbi Nachum will keep going with his work despite the horrible resistance and denial of this rape culture. I would love to know how to support him in some way.
rabbi scechter doesnt give police protection so its all all our communities
b'h' for the courage Rav Rosenberg is showing all of us by speaking out and letting the world know what has been happening to the children in his community and also to him.
Hikind Subpoenaed On Sex-Abuse Information
11/12/2008
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a14004/News/New_York.html
Hikind: Is the data he has amassed privileged?
by Hella Winston
Special To The Jewish Week
State Assembly member Dov Hikind was subpoenaed Monday to provide testimony and files he has compiled about rabbis and yeshiva employees who have allegedly sexually abused children under their charge, and rabbinic leaders who may have protected the abusers.
The Brooklyn Democrat says he has assembled detailed dossiers on “hundreds” of such cases. But he said he would “go to jail for 10 years” rather than reveal the names of the alleged victims, whom he has guaranteed anonymity.
Michael Dowd, the attorney who served the subpoena on behalf of several clients allegedly molested by their yeshiva teacher as children, said he was willing to keep the names of the alleged victims from becoming public. He is representing his clients in a civil suit against Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Flatbush and its longtime teacher, Yehuda Kolko, who was convicted of child endangerment last April.
“I’m willing to try to work with him in a way that protects the sources yet exposes the villains,” said Dowd of Hikind. “I am not at all seeking to do harm or impair his progress, but I have a responsibility to my clients.”
Hikind also faced new pressure this week over his effort — publicized on a recent edition of his radio show — to work with a chasidic man who has come to him acknowledging he has repeatedly molested children, and confesses to one incident as recently as two months ago. Hikind says he has gotten the man into therapy with a “top person in the field” and has declined to disclose his name or tell law enforcement authorities about what he knows.
On Tuesday, Marci Hamilton, a Yeshiva University law professor and national expert on child sexual abuse, said Hikind’s holding back of this information “is outrageous. At this point he’s engaged in obstruction of justice. Is there any indication that [the abuser] has taken anyone over state lines? It seems to me if local prosecutors won’t do it, the FBI should be called.”
A New York police department source with long experience in sex crimes said that even in cases where therapy might help repeat sex offenders, it is essential that the process be overseen through the legal system. Otherwise, she said, there is no way to ensure the offender’s continuing participation and no way to identify him so as to protect the public in case of relapse.
Bill Josephson, a senior partner at Fried Frank and Harris who served as a top lawyer to former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer also asked, “Why aren’t they convening a grand jury?” Given Hikind’s public acknowledgement that he has gathered a virtual mountain of first-hand testimony of sexual wrongdoing, “Why can’t you empanel a grand jury and then subpoena Dov? Josephson asked. “He can’t hide from [a criminal] subpoena. That’s a very powerful instrument.”
Asked if Hikind’s collection of evidence might move him to empanel a grand jury to investigate what is happening within the Orthodox community on this issue, a spokesperson for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said only, “If Dov Hikind has evidence of wrongdoing or criminality, we are open to hear it. I can’t say we will empanel a grand jury.”
Access by prosecutors to the most recent victim of Hikind’s self-confessed chasidic abuser might enable state authorities to prosecute him. If the victim is a minor, as the abuser’s past prey have been, he would fall within the state’s narrow statute of limitations for such criminal prosecution.
But Hikind said, “He has many victims. None of those will come forward. That’s part of the story.
“The therapists say that if you don’t stop one of these people they will have a hundred victims,” Hikind said. “Believe it. Just this guy started listing to us a lengthy list of his own victims from the past 10 years.”
The developments marked a new twist in Hikind’s campaign to get the Orthodox community to address a problem he has come to view as much more widespread than he ever imagined, one in which he says he is trying to do the right thing.
Last April, after the conviction of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko of Yeshiva Torah Temimah for child endangerment, Hikind began addressing the issue bluntly on his weekly call-in radio program. He invited members of the Orthodox community who had been molested as children to come to him with details about their experience and about rabbis, teachers or others in the community who were responsible.
Stunned by the massive response, the state lawmaker now says he has assembled testimony and information detailing at least 1,000 cases of childhood sexual abuse.
In the Rabbi Kolko case and others, victims who were ultimately willing to come forward publicly say that they told school administrators about what their teachers were doing to them but that the administrators did nothing, or even tried to keep them silent. Some report receiving threats and pressure when they do speak out or seek to go to the authorities.
In the ultra-traditional Orthodox community overall, there is a widely acknowledged taboo about going to secular authorities to prosecute such crimes. And in Brooklyn, some victims who have come forward complain that the D.A.’s office does not prosecute such cases vigorously. They cite Rabbi Kolko’s ultimate sentence.
Hynes negotiated a controversial plea bargain that reduced the felony sexual molestation charge to misdemeanor that did not require Rabbi Kolko to serve prison time or register as a sex offender.
At the same time, Hikind and other observers say the community’s own rabbinic leaders have failed to deal with the problem internally.
Many of his informants are now adults over the age of 23 — the state’s deadline for allowing criminal prosecution of a child sexual abuser and for most civil suits, as well. But even those who are not, says Hikind, are not willing to go to secular law enforcement authorities.
Some have criticized Hikind for making this determination on his own. In the Rabbi Kolko case, a determined detective produced victims willing to come forward by obtaining class lists of hundreds of students taught by Kolko over the years and going from door to door seeking victims who would work with her. Some who initially refused were, in the end, eager to testify.
Hikind says he believes strongly that victims should go to law enforcement authorities and that he encourages them to do so. But given the reality of community reluctance, he says he will use the information he has amassed to go to rabbinic leaders and get them to deal with the situation internally. He hopes to secure their cooperation in establishing a communal registry that would list the names of teachers removed from schools due to abusive behavior.
But apparently recognizing that many schools are often reluctant to dismiss such teachers in the first place, Hikind has at times appeared to envision forming some sort of rabbinic panel with a more ambitious, quasi-judicial function.
“It’s sort of hard to investigate yourself,” Hikind admitted in an interview last September. “There’s got to be a system where trusted people, respected leaders, who are not directly a part of that particular organization examine everything. We have to make judgments. We do that all the time.”
Last August, Hikind threatened to reveal the names of abusers publicly if communal rabbinic leaders failed to act. This week, Hikind said it would take “another two months” to finish his “current phase.” He said that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) had recently allocated money for him to hire a staff person for the project.
Survivors for Justice, a new group of self-described childhood victims of sexual abuse in the New York Orthodox community and their advocates, dismissed the willingness and ability of rabbinic leaders to play the role Hikind envisions.
“We applaud Dov Hikind’s efforts, but we believe it is crucial that any information [he] has be brought directly to the police,” the group said in a statement. “It’s crucial in an effort to prevent sexual abuse from continuing that all perpetrators be brought to justice. We are dealing with sex offenders, and they need to be arrested, prosecuted and registered in order to protect our children.”
Dowd, who is representing alleged victims of Rabbi Kolko in their suit against him, the school and its administrator, said, “With all due respect to his intellect, skill and ability, [Hikind] can’t be the arbiter of what is useful to my case. The lawyers representing those who are abused are in the best position to do that. Therefore, I have to depose him, question him under oath.”
Dowd stressed, “I mean no harm. We are both pointed in the same direction.” He said he was willing to agree to “reasonable constraints” on his use of Hikind’s material. But he added: “I fully intend to use any information that proves the case.”
Hikind said he had turned Dowd’s subpoena over to “a lawyer for the Assembly” who will determine to what extent he is required to cooperate as a state legislator. But regardless of the lawyer’s determination, expected Wednesday, “Hell would have to freeze over for me to disclose any of the private things to anybody,” he said.
Some legal experts said that Hikind might find a successful argument against having to comply with Dowd’s subpoena by citing the state constitution’s speech and debate clause — a provision that grants privileges and immunities to lawmakers in connection with information they gather for the purpose of legislating. A few said he might also be able to resist the subpoena under the state’s shield law for journalists since he used his radio program to gather some of the information.
Hamilton, the Yeshiva University legal expert, was unfamiliar with the state constitutional provision. But under the federal constitution’s speech and debate clause, “The activity must be related to his role as a member of the state legislature,” she said.
“Here, it is hard to argue he was engaged in a legislative issue, because he was restricting his interest to his own religious sect. In any event, speech and debate only goes to words, not to illegal acts.”
Sexual Abuse Complaints Subpoenaed
By PAUL VITELLO
New York Times - November 13, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/nyregion/13hikind.html?ref=nyregion
Since last year, when Assemblyman Dov Hikind invited his radio show listeners to discuss an explosive topic — sexual abuse of children in the Orthodox Jewish community — he says he has collected more than 1,000 complaints and the names of 60 accused sexual predators.
He has kept those stories under lock and key in his Brooklyn office, he says, because the people who said they were victims had sworn him to secrecy, fearful of becoming outcasts in a community where perceived troublemakers risk losing employment, housing and even marriage prospects.
But a prominent lawyer representing a half dozen former yeshiva students who say in a civil lawsuit that they were sexually abused by a teacher in Borough Park, Brooklyn, had Mr. Hikind served with a subpoena this week, demanding that he surrender those files.
Mr. Hikind has refused. “I will go to jail for 10 years first,” he said on Wednesday.
The legal conflict has revealed a deep tension within the Orthodox community that has been reported in the Jewish weekly press, and has been the almost exclusive topic of discussion on some Orthodox Jewish Web sites like failedmessiah.com and unorthodoxjews.blogspot.com in the months since Mr. Hikind brought up sexual abuse.
“I’ve been shocked and overwhelmed at the magnitude of the problem,” said Mr. Hikind, an Orthodox Jew and a Democrat who represents the predominantly Orthodox community of Borough Park.
The victims have come to his office in a steady stream to tell their stories, he said. “Abusive teachers and rabbis in the schools,” he said. “Pedophiles on the streets. Incest in the home.”
Michael G. Dowd, the lawyer who had Mr. Hikind served with the subpoena, has been a leading advocate for plaintiffs who say they were abused by Roman Catholic priests. He represents six men who say they were abused by Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, a teacher at Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn. Rabbi Kolko, who was charged with sexual abuse in 2006, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and has left the school.
Mr. Dowd’s subpoena demands that the assemblyman turn over not just complaints that Mr. Hikind may have received against Rabbi Kolko, but “any and all reports of sexual abuse at any yeshiva and/or by any rabbi or employee of a yeshiva in New York City.” Mr. Dowd said they were crucial to proving his clients’ contention that sexual abuse was commonplace and routinely covered up by administrators in yeshivas.
He described Mr. Hikind’s refusal as “misguided.” While he said that he planned to have the subpoena enforced, he also said that he understood the reluctance to cross the powers that be in the Orthodox community. “The lead rabbis have the kind of power to shut people up that the Catholic Church had 50, 60 years ago,” he said.
Mr. Hikind said that every complaint he received was in complete confidence, with the understanding that “under no circumstances would their names be known in the community.”
“There is no way in the world, when people have come to me and spilled their hearts out to me, and shared the most intimate and private things with me, hoping I will do something to address the larger, overall issue, that I would ever betray their trust,” he said.
Mr. Hikind said he was responding to talk in the community about unreported sex abuse when he decided to devote three shows in a row to the topic on his weekly radio program, which is broadcast Saturday nights on WMCA-AM (570). The response was immediate and broad, coming not only from Brooklyn but from upstate New York and New Jersey as well.
He has been trying to enlist leaders of the Borough Park community to help deal with the problem, with mixed success. “There is a cultural taboo about this kind of thing, and especially about going to secular authorities with sexual abuse issues,” he said.
In September, a clinical psychologist who initially agreed to head a task force on the issue, Rabbi Benzion Twerski, resigned after a week. In a letter to a Jewish weekly newspaper, he said he left under pressure brought by his children, who told him they were made to feel “shamed” by his participation.
Mr. Hikind said that of all the people who said they had been victims, “99 percent would not go to the police under any circumstances — that is just the reality.”
But Joel Engelman, 23, who grew up in the Orthodox community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and who helped found a group of victims called Survivors for Justice, said that while “well-intentioned,” Mr. Hikind had a classic misunderstanding about sexual predators that is embedded in insular communities like the Catholic priesthood or the Orthodox world. “The community cannot police itself,” he said. “This has been shown again and again.”
In his own case, Mr. Engelman said, a complaint he brought to the attention of administrators at the United Talmudical Academy against a teacher who sexually violated him when he was 8 years old led to the teacher’s brief suspension and subsequent reinstatement. Mr. Engelman has since brought a civil suit against the teacher and the school.
Prof. Marci Hamilton, a visiting professor at the Yeshiva University School of Law and an expert in sexual abuse by religious leaders, said Mr. Hikind’s refusal to turn over the names of alleged predators, if not his entire case file, was “outrageous.”
She said that Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, “should already have convened a grand jury” to investigate.
Jerry Schmetterer, Mr. Hynes’s spokesman, said, “If someone has information about a sex crime, he or she should bring that information to our sex crimes unit, and we will investigate what needs to be investigated.”
Summary Guide for MANDATED REPORTERS in New York State Pub. 1159
http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/publications/Pub1159text.asp
Certain professionals are required by law to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment to the New York State Central Register (SCR) of Child Abuse and Maltreatment. The law also assigns civil and criminal liability to those professionals who do not comply with their mandated reporter responsibilities.
This booklet provides mandated reporters with an overview of their obligations and some basic information about the New York State Child Protective Services System (CPS). For additional copies of this pamphlet or for further information about child abuse and maltreatment, visit our website at: http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us.
Who Are Mandated Reporters?
New York State recognizes certain professionals to be specially equipped to hold the important role of mandated reporter of child abuse or maltreatment. Those professionals include:
* Physician
* Registered physician's assistant
* Surgeon
* Medical examiner
* Coroner
* Dentist
* Dental hygienist
* Osteopath
* Optometrist
* Chiropractor
* Podiatrist
* Resident
* Intern
* Psychologist
* Registered nurse
* Social Worker
* Emergency medical technician
* Licensed creative arts therapist
* Licensed marriage and family therapist
* Licensed mental health counselor
* Licensed psychoanalyst
* Hospital personnel engaged in the admission, examination, care or treatment of persons
* Christian Science practitioner
* School official
* Social services worker
* Day care center worker
* Provider of Family or Group Family Day Care
* Any employee or volunteer in a residential care facility for children
* Any other child care or foster care worker
* Mental health professional
* Substance abuse counselor
* Alcoholism counselor
* Peace officer
* Police officer
* District attorney or assistant district attorney
* Investigator employed in the Office of the District Attorney
* Any other law enforcement official
The entire current list can be found in Section 413 of the New York Social Services Law, which can be accessed online through the New York State Legislature's website (http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menuf.cgi). Click on Laws of New York to access Social Services Law.
When Am I Mandated to Report?
Mandated reporters are required to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment when, in their official or professional role, they are presented with a reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or maltreatment where a child, parent, or other person legally responsible for the child is before the mandated reporter when the mandated reporter is acting in his or her official or professional capacity. "Other person legally responsible" refers to a guardian, caretaker, or other person 18 years of age or older who is responsible for the care of the child. (See page 9 for more information on referrals to law enforcement officials.)
Professional Role
For example, a doctor examining a child in her practice who has a reasonable suspicion of abuse must report her concern. In contrast, the doctor who witnesses child abuse when riding her bike while off-duty is not mandated to report that abuse. The mandated reporter's legal responsibility to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment ceases when the mandated reporter stops practicing his/her profession. Of course, anyone may report any suspected abuse or maltreatment at any time, and is encouraged to do so.
Reasonable Cause to Suspect
Reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or maltreatment means that, based on your rational observations, professional training and experience, you have a suspicion that the parent or other person legally responsible for a child is responsible for harming that child or placing that child in imminent danger of harm. Your suspicion can be as simple as distrusting an explanation for an injury.
What Is Abuse and Maltreatment?
Abuse
Abuse encompasses the most serious harms committed against children. An abused child is one whose parent or other person legally responsible for his or her care inflicts serious physical injury upon the child, creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury, or commits a sex offense against the child. Abuse also includes situations where a parent or other person legally responsible knowingly allows someone else to inflict such harm on a child.
Maltreatment (including Neglect)
Maltreatment means that a child's physical, mental or emotional condition has been impaired, or placed in imminent danger of impairment, by the failure of the child's parent or other person legally responsible to exercise a minimum degree of care by:
* failing to provide sufficient food, clothing, shelter, education; or
* failing to provide proper supervision, guardianship, or medical care (refers to all medical issues, including dental, optometric, or surgical care); or
* inflicting excessive corporal punishment, abandoning the child, or misusing alcohol or other drugs to the extent that the child was placed in imminent danger.
Poverty or other financial inability to provide the above is not maltreatment.
Note: The definitions of abuse and maltreatment are somewhat different for children in residential facilities operated or licensed by state agencies.
How Do I Recognize Child Abuse and Maltreatment?
The list that follows contains some common indicators of abuse or maltreatment. This list is not all-inclusive, and some abused or maltreated children may not show any of these symptoms.
Indicators of Physical Abuse can include:
* Injuries to the eyes or both sides of the head or body (accidental injuries typically only affect one side of the body);
* Frequent injuries of any kind (bruises, cuts and/or burns), especially if the child is unable to provide an adequate explanation of the cause. These may appear in distinctive patterns such as grab marks, human bite marks, cigarette burns, or impressions of other instruments;
* Destructive, aggressive, or disruptive behavior;
* Passive, withdrawn, or emotionless behavior; and
* Fear of going home or fear of parent(s).
Indicators of Sexual Abuse can include:
* Symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases;
* Injury to genital area;
* Difficulty and/or pain when sitting or walking;
* Sexually suggestive, inappropriate, or promiscuous behavior or verbalization;
* Expressing age-inappropriate knowledge of sexual relations; and
* Sexual victimization of other children.
Indicators of Maltreatment can include:
* Obvious malnourishment, listlessness, or fatigue;
* Stealing or begging for food;
* Lack of personal care - poor personal hygiene, torn and/or dirty clothes;
* Untreated need for glasses, dental care, or other medical attention;
* Frequent absence from or tardiness to school; and
* Child inappropriately left unattended or without supervision.
Where Do I Call to Make a Report?
As soon as you suspect abuse or maltreatment, you must report your concerns by telephone to the SCR. The SCR is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to receive your call. The timeliness of your call is vital to the timeliness of intervention by local Child Protective Services (CPS). You are not required to notify the parents or other persons legally responsible either before or after your call to the SCR. In fact, in some cases, alerting the parent may hinder the local Child Protective Services investigation and adversely affect its ability to assess the safety of the children. The telephone numbers are:
Mandated Reporter (800) 635-1522
Public Hotline (800) 342-3720
Two counties run child abuse hotlines that may be used instead of the SCR:
Onondaga County (315) 422-9701
Monroe County (585) 461-5690
Oral reports to any of the hotlines must be followed within 48 hours by a written report on Form LDSS-2221A to the local CPS. A copy of this mandated reporter form can be obtained by contacting your local CPS office, or by accessing the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) website at www.ocfs.state.ny.us and clicking on the "Forms" and "LDSS-2221A" links.
What Happens When I Call the SCR?
There may be times when you have very little information on which to base your suspicion of abuse or maltreatment, but this should not prevent you from calling the SCR. A trained specialist at the SCR will help to determine if the information you are providing can be registered as a report. The LDSS-2221A mandated reporter form can be used to help you organize the identifying or demographic information you have at your disposal.
Be sure to ask the SCR specialist for the "Call I.D." assigned to the report you have made.
If the SCR staff does not register the child abuse or maltreatment report, the reason for the decision should be clearly explained to you. You may also request to speak to a supervisor who can help make determinations in difficult or unusual cases.
Local CPS Role and Responsibilities
When a report is registered at the SCR, the local Department of Social Services is immediately notified for investigation and follow-up. A local Child Protective Services caseworker will initiate an investigation within 24 hours.
CPS intervention consists of an evaluation of the child and other children in the home, and the development of a plan to meet the needs of the child and family. If there is an immediate threat to the child's life or health, CPS may remove the child from the home.
Upon request, CPS may obtain from the mandated reporter those records which are essential to a full investigation of alleged child abuse and maltreatment for any report made by the mandated reporter. The mandated reporter must determine which records are essential to the full investigation and provide those records to CPS when requested to do so.
Within 60 days of initiating the investigation, CPS will determine whether the report is indicated or unfounded. Mandated reporters may ask to be informed of the outcome of the report.
Law Enforcement Referrals
If a call to the SCR provides information about an immediate threat to a child or a crime committed against a child, but the perpetrator is not a parent or other person legally responsible for the child, the SCR staff will make a Law Enforcement Referral (LER). The relevant information will be recorded and transmitted to the New York State Police Information Network or to the New York City Special Victims Liaison Unit for action. This is not a CPS report, and local CPS will not be involved.
What Protection or Liability Do I Have?
Source Confidentiality
The Social Services Law provides confidentiality for mandated reporters and all sources of child abuse and maltreatment reports. OCFS and local CPS are not permitted to release to the subject of the report any data that would identify the source of a report unless the source has given written permission to do so. Information regarding the source of the report may be shared with court officials, police, and district attorneys but only in certain circumstances.
Immunity from Liability
If a mandated reporter makes a report with earnest concern for the welfare of a child, he or she is immune from any criminal or civil liability that might result. This is referred to as making a report in "good faith."
Penalties for Failure to Report
Anyone who is mandated to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment - and fails to do so - could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor and subject to criminal penalties. Further, mandated reporters can be sued in a civil court for monetary damages for any harm caused by the mandated reporter's failure to make a report to the SCR.
Who Provides Training for Mandated Reporters?
The New York State Education Department (SED) Office of the Professions oversees the training requirements for mandated reporters. Some categories - including teachers, many medical professionals, and social workers - need this training as part of their licensing requirement. The training may be included in their formal education program
The New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS)is proud to be one of more than 200 providers authorized by the SED to offer mandated reporter training, and has developed a comprehensive curriculum with content customized to medical professionals, educators,law enforcement personnel, day care providers, and human services staff. OCFS has shared this well-received curriculum with other licensed providers of mandated reporter training, as well as colleges and universities across the state that provide educational programming in the fields covered by the mandated reporter statute.
OCFS also offers periodic satellite video-conferences, broadcast through the New York Network; a two-day Training for Trainers program; and is currently developing Web-based training.
OCFS provides extensive mandated reporter training through a contractual agreement with the Center for Development of Human Services (CDHS), part of the Research Foundation of SUNY, Buffalo State College. For more information, visit OCFS's Mandated Reporter Training Resource Center Website at www.bsc-cdhs.org/mr/. All training offered through OCFS is at no cost to the participant.
Conclusion
Protecting children and preventing child abuse and maltreatment does not begin or end with reporting. Efforts to prevent child abuse and maltreatment can only be effective when mandated reporters and other concerned citizens work together to improve the safety net in their communities.
To be most effective, your local CPS needs strong partnerships within your community. By getting to know the staff in your local CPS unit, you will gain a better understanding of how your local program is structured and CPS will better understand how to work more effectively with you.
By working together, we can better protect our vulnerable children.
Additional Mandated Reporter Information
New York State
Office of Children & Family Services
Capital View Office Park
52 Washington Street
Rensselaer, New York 12144
Visit our website at:
http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us
To report child abuse and neglect, call:
1-800-342-3720
For information on the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, call:
1-866-505-SAFE (7233)
For child care, foster care, and adoption information, call:
1-800-345-KIDS (5437)
For information about services for the blind, call:
1-866-871-3000
1-866-871-6000 TDD
Mandated Reporters Hotline for child abuse and maltreatment reports:
1-800-635-1522
"...promoting the well-being and safety of our children, families, and communities. ..."
Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services will make this material available in large print or on audiotape upon request.
Pub. #1159 (Rev. 12/06)
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