Can a school employee look under my childs clothing?
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 at
10:24 am
Yesterday I was told by my 6 yr old daughter that she was questioned by the librarian at school about a couple small bruises on my 4 yr old sons back. Today DFS is involved and a case was opened on me. The children were questioned without my presence. Were the school employees who looked under his shirt wrong to do that?
Filed under: Baby Clothes
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No. More than likely the bruises were first noticed when your child’s clothing rode up during horseplay or because four year old’s are constantly fidgeting with everything. Or it is possible that your child seemed to be in pain and was being checked for injury. It is unlikely that a librarian just decided on a whim to strip search your son to see if she could get you in trouble.
The librarian did make an effort to find out if there was a legitimate explanation for the bruises from your daughter. School employees are mandated reporters and must report any suspected instances of child abuse to the authorities, so they did exactly what they were required to do by law. If there is a simple explanation to the injuries that is supported by the pattern of the bruising and the descriptions of how they got there then you should have no problem.
Dear Candee:
In California especially and in most other States, School Teachers and other school employees must report anything that is even suspicious of possible child abuse.
In short, the answer to your question is that they had the right and the responsibility to do what they did. Of course there should also be some sort of indication that abuse is indicated. i.e., they cannot just look because they want to.
In this case you need to understand that the general thinking is that there is abuse in the family. The first thing you need to do is to find out what your children told the school officials, and also find out what the school officials are investigating.
In other words, if you hit your children, (I hope not), then you had better find a way of defending yourself with an attorney. If you did not, and was not aware of the bruises, then you may be ok. However, if the investigation reveals negligence or other fault on your part, you could lose custody of both your children depending upon the severity of the findings.
Child abuse is a serious issue in today’s society, and it should not be tolerated in any quarter. In this regard I applaud the school officials. The downside is that you may be innocent and you may have to defend yourself for something that is not your fault.
My Recommendations:
If you have been hitting your children, then you need professional help. In such a case, get it now before you lose your kids. You may also need an attorney to keep custody of your kids.
If you have NOT been hitting your children, then see an attorney and make sure they present your side of things. Remember, premise of the law is that you are innocent until found guilty. The downside here is that people will think you are guilty without knowing the facts.
I hope this will help you some
Take care and God Bless
Dan
Not in Arizona. Arizona had a case in 2008 in which a child was searched down to her underwear, looking for a prescription drug. This done by the school nurse and principal. This went to our Supreme Court. It determined, regardless of suspicion, a child can not be searched without the consent and presence of the parent or guardian. This child was in middle school. In reading your post, you make no mention of the possible cause of the bruises. You seem more concerned with the consequences of the search. I think you have the right as the parent to challenge the search. If there is no abuse involved, why not work with authorities to get this resolved. If this involves abuse, the search may still be challenged, but it doesn’t nullify the abuse. Btw, the parents of this child in AZ sued the school district and won a sizeable award.
If they have reason to believe that your child is abused any teacher or school personnel is required BY LAW (at least in my state!) to report to child protective services/DYFS. The nurse is the one who would be allowed to ask your child to show the site in question. DYFS will come in and question the teacher, the child, any siblings – without parents present.. then typically show up at the house and interview the parents. There is a protocol they follow. What children tell adults in the presence of an abuser is not always what they will tell someone outside the house. If child protective services believes there was abuse, they will contact local law enforcement (police department/detective) and the case will go to them. This practice is in place to protect our children. Many children have been saved from abusive homes, relatives, bullies, etc. because teachers and other school personnel have cared enough to reach out to them. They spend all day with these children and can tell when something is wrong- either by actual physical marks or by a change in the child’s normal behavior (like depression, not doing work suddenly, not wanting to go home). My suggestion to you is to tell them the truth about the origin of those bruises.
Yes, only a medical personnel can do that. But they probably thought they were doing what was best for your child. You need to get an atty.
maybe you shouldn’t be putting bruises on your kid… Thats completely fine, they have a right to be concerned if a parent is possibly hitting a kid. It was just on his back its not like they’re striping him down and feeling up his privates. He was probably saying something about the bruises and the teacher was concerned and took a look at his back… nothing wrong there. I was kidding in the beginning btw unless you actually did do that… and for all the people that said no, you are very stupid. A teachers can look at a child’s bruises on their back especially if they are concerned about abuse. That’s like saying they can look at a cut on their finger. If it concerned a private area then that would be different.
i think so because the child had bruises… It is their right (school administrator) to know if a child is being abused
I’m not sure what the rules are in your state. It’s possible that if they have cause to believe the children are in trouble, then they can call in help.
NO!
absolutely not.
I dont know what DFS is really but if they were looking at your child and you were not there, i would say it was wrong. Unless, you had givin them permission to do so.
You need to talk to an attorney and a social worker. I’m not sure what the rules are in your state. It’s possible that if they have cause to believe the children are in trouble, then they can call in help.