Child Abuse and Neglect:
To summarize, every person employed by the Board who has reasonable grounds to believe that a child is in need of protection should report (but is not required to) the information to the principal.
What should you do?
- Refer to the Saskatchewan 2006 Provincial Child Abuse Protocol to determine if a child is in need of protection.
- See me immediately so that we can proceed with an appropriate course of action. Remember however, that the legal responsibility to refer lies within the person who believes the abuse has or is occurring and can not be transferred.
- Document the time, date and circumstances surrounding the information that led you to have reasonable grounds. Start filling in the Suspicion of Child Abuse Form.
- Contact Saskatchewan Social Services to determine an appropriate action if grounds for suspecting abuse are ambiguous or uncertain.
- Do not contact the child’s family, the alleged perpetrator, or other persons, other than Social Services, the police, or school administration.
- You have no responsibility to investigate or follow up. This responsibility lies with Social Services.
- You are only required to report incidents when the reasonable grounds for suspecting abuse is by a “parent”. If there are reasonable grounds for suspecting a non-parent or an unknown person, for the good of the child, it should be reported to Social Services.
- Document everything, and keep everything confidential.
