ERIC Number: ED307956
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1988-Jan
Pages: 21
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Child Care and the Child Abuse Index. A Report from the California Children's Council.
Sale, June Solnit; And Others
In California, the desire to do something about child abuse, fanned by repeated and often sensational media coverage, has led to an understandable but counterproductive overreaction on the part of professionals and citizens reporting suspected child abuse. Child protective agencies receive an average of one report a minute. There are over 300,000 reports a year. Since 1965, Section 11110 of California's Penal Code has mandated that the State Bureau of Identification maintain records of all reports of suspected child abuse. The collected reports are called the Child Abuse Index (or Registry). Over time, data from the Registry and access to it have increased. But alleged offenders are denied notice of whether they are in the registry and on what grounds. Concern about such records arises because the system now serves a second, not originally intended, purpose: the Index is used for screening the name of every applicant for licensure or employment in a California child day-care facility. Because the Department of Social Services can use the system to deny licensure, serious due process questions are raised. Nine recommendations for removing negative consequences of the system and enabling it to adequately meet its purpose are proposed. A description of the Children's Roundtable Project of the California Children's Council and a list of roundtable participants are included. (RH)
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: California Children's Council, Northridge.
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A