Child Abuse Identification and Reporting: The Pennsylvania Requirement _____________________________
d) has been determined to be a sexually violent predator (under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.58, relating to assessments) or has to register for life (under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9799.55(b) relating to registration) • Causing the death of the child through any act or failure to act • Engaging a child in a severe form of trafficking in per- sons or sex trafficking, as those terms are defined under section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 KEY COMPONENTS OF CHILD ABUSE • Child: An individual younger than 18 years of age • Act or failure to act; Recent act; Recent act or failure to act; or A series of acts or failures to act – Act: Something that is done to harm or cause potential harm to a child – Failure to act: Something that is NOT done to prevent harm or potential harm to a child – Recent act: Any act committed within two (2) years of the date of the report to DHS or county agency – Recent act or failure to act: Any act or failure to act committed within two (2) years of the date of the report to DHS or county agency • Intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly – Intentionally: Done with the direct purpose of causing the type of harm that resulted – Knowingly: Awareness that harm is practically certain to result – Recklessly: Conscious disregard of substantial and unjustifiable risk EXCLUSIONS In addition, the CPSL explicitly excludes specific acts and injuries from the definition of child abuse: • Restatement of culpability: Conduct that causes injury or harm to a child or creates a risk of injury or harm to a child shall not be considered child abuse if there is no evidence that the person acted intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly when causing the injury or harm to the child or creating a risk of injury or harm to the child. • Child abuse exclusions: The term child abuse does not include any conduct for which an exclusion is provided in § 6304 of the PA CPSL (relating to exclusions from child abuse). Exclusions to the definition of child abuse (23 Pa.C.S. § 6304): • Environmental factors: No child shall be deemed to be physically or mentally abused based on injuries that result solely from environmental factors, such as inadequate housing, furnishings, income, clothing, and medical care, that are beyond the control of the parent
or person responsible for the child’s welfare with whom the child resides. This shall not apply to any child-care service as defined under section 6303(a) of the PA CPSL (excluding an adoptive parent). • Practice of religious beliefs: If, upon investigation, the county agency determines that a child has not been provided needed medical or surgical care because of sincerely held religious beliefs of the child’s parents or relative within the third degree of consanguinity and with whom the child resides, which beliefs are consis- tent with those of a bona fide religion, the child shall not be deemed to be physically or mentally abused. In such cases the following shall apply: – The county agency shall closely monitor the child and the child’s family and shall seek court-ordered medical intervention when the lack of medical or surgical care threatens the child’s life or long-term health. – All correspondence with a subject of the report and the records of the department and the county agency shall not reference child abuse and shall acknowledge the religious basis for the child’s condition. – The family shall be referred for general protective services, if appropriate. – This exclusion shall not apply if the failure to provide needed medical or surgical care causes the death of the child. – This exclusion shall not apply to any childcare service as defined under section 6303(a) of the PA CPSL (excluding an adoptive parent). • Use of force for supervision, control, and safety pur- poses: Subject to subsection (d) (relating to the rights of parents), the use of reasonable force on or against a child by the child’s own parent or person responsible for the child’s welfare shall not be considered child abuse if any of the following conditions apply: – The use of reasonable force constitutes incidental, minor, or reasonable physical contact with the child or other actions that are designed to main- tain order and control. – The use of reasonable force is necessary to quell a disturbance or remove the child from the scene of a disturbance that threatens physical injury to per- sons or damage to property; to prevent the child from self-inflicted physical harm; for self-defense or the defense of another individual; or to obtain possession of weapons or other dangerous objects or controlled substances or paraphernalia that are on the child or within the control of the child. • Rights of parents: Nothing in this chapter shall be con- strued to restrict the generally recognized existing rights of parents to use reasonable force on or against their
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