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I started watching The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez on Netflix.
Got through episode 3.
The torture and abuse this child went through is absolutely horrific.
His teacher followed protocol: reported the abuse, over and over again, to the social worker.
The little 8 year old boy asked her NOT to call "that lady" (social worker) when he finally returned to school after missing 13 days of - I think that was after his mother had shot him in the face with a BB gun and he was on the "mend", but still had swollen eyes and bruises all over his face. Teacher still called - didn't know what else to do.
He apparently walked in to her classroom many times where she and her students looked at him and said, "oh" - from the visible abuse all over his face and head.
The teacher had already involved the principal and he told her that "we report, we don't investigate". So she never asked him for "help" again.
The reason I'm asking is because someone in the social services "mix" basically blamed the teacher for this child's death. She said (paraphrasing), "She never should have let that child leave her classroom to go home to his abusers".
This is after DCFS was failing him, the police were failing him - the police told him to stop lying or he'd go to jail...
What else could a teacher do when the PTB don't do a thing, and reporting the continued abuse only makes it worse for the child?
I don't see what is possible? But this poor teacher is living with guilt for not having "done more".
Legally, educators are mandated reporters. They (we) must alert appropriate authorities of suspicion of abuse, neglect, endangerment. Teachers can't mandate a parental separation.
Legally, educators are mandated reporters. They (we) must alert appropriate authorities of suspicion of abuse, neglect, endangerment. Teachers can't mandate a parental separation.
Yes - that's what his teacher did.
I know that a teacher doesn't have the power to separate a child from a parent.
She followed protocol, along with every other "mandated reporter" - and he still ended up dead.
Too many, IMO, protecting their jobs/pensions instead of a child who is (obviously) being severely abused.
My question was & due to the fact that the social service "employee" said that his teacher should have NOT allowed him to go home to his abusers (and the little boy asked his teacher to NOT call "the lady" after he told her that his mother shot him in the face because the abuse got worse for him after..) she did, anyway; what else could she have done?
I'm not blaming the teacher, her hands were tied because she didn't want to step out of her lane - as many others also did not.
I actually had this question after hearing about that little boy in long island who was coming to school cold and covered in urine and then he froze to death in his garage when his dad sent him out there.
I KNOW teacher have to call social services and they should. But can they call the police? For example if they "suspect" abuse because the child has mysterious injuries and the school thinks its the parents they call social services and they hopefully investigate and come to a conclusion one way or the other. But what if the child is OBVIOUSLY being beaten regularly and comes to school in the morning with a horrific injury they didnt have the day before. In addition to calling the the abuse hotline can the school call the police? Call and basically force the police to file a report and contact social services themselves?
When both the school and the police are running information up the flagpole does that help? If the police show up and see an obviously battered child who says it was his mother (or whoever or who is visibly afraid when mentioning his parents) can the police not go and arrest the parent for child abuse?
If i walk into a police station covered in bruises and say it was my husband they go arrest him for assault. Why do they not do that for children in schools?
Correct they are to report the concern, and continue to report each time.
Its easy to have hindsight on what could of, should of ,and would of, been the optimum way to handle such blantantly obvious abuse.
I would have taken off my teachers hat, and driven that boy to the MOBILE CLINIC that is 24/7 for a child suspected of being a victim of abuse. I recall one of the commentators who was the Leader in establishing the 24/7 mobile unit stating that this resource was available.
I'm deeply disturbed that the State of Appeals has sided with the Social workers . They seriously neglected their duties in following up on this child' welfare. So say they hold no accountability as a public servant.....
I started watching The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez on Netflix.
Got through episode 3.
The torture and abuse this child went through is absolutely horrific.
His teacher followed protocol: reported the abuse, over and over again, to the social worker.
The little 8 year old boy asked her NOT to call "that lady" (social worker) when he finally returned to school after missing 13 days of - I think that was after his mother had shot him in the face with a BB gun and he was on the "mend", but still had swollen eyes and bruises all over his face. Teacher still called - didn't know what else to do.
He apparently walked in to her classroom many times where she and her students looked at him and said, "oh" - from the visible abuse all over his face and head.
The teacher had already involved the principal and he told her that "we report, we don't investigate". So she never asked him for "help" again.
The reason I'm asking is because someone in the social services "mix" basically blamed the teacher for this child's death. She said (paraphrasing), "She never should have let that child leave her classroom to go home to his abusers".
This is after DCFS was failing him, the police were failing him - the police told him to stop lying or he'd go to jail...
What else could a teacher do when the PTB don't do a thing, and reporting the continued abuse only makes it worse for the child?
I don't see what is possible? But this poor teacher is living with guilt for not having "done more".
I am not sure about the US but there are child abuse charities in the UK such as the NSPCC which can be contacted if you believe abuse is taking place and will offer advice, as well as having theie own experts and social work teams and will take matters in to their own hands if necessary as well as pressurising the police and other agencies to take action.
Does the US have similar charities which are seperate to local and state social workers and the police.
Indirectly it's called the morgue. That's the charity when all is said and done.
In this particular case the County of Los Angeles had one of the highest funding of labor for child welfare. It's case worker labor ranged about 1,100 employees. So to say they are overwhelmed with too many cases is a farce. It had plenty of resources thru out the medical community to reach out to.
When a school nurse could have been called to the students class....(which wasn't explored as an option), she could have easily called an ambulance and had him transported to the hospital for an examination. When a child's at school the nurse can make that medical call.
When a school nurse could have been called to the students class....(which wasn't explored as an option), she could have easily called an ambulance and had him transported to the hospital for an examination. When a child's at school the nurse can make that medical call.
I hadnt considered this option. But now that youve said it it makes sense. There is a way to escalate carea nd it wasnt done.
I am SICK to my stomach that a child, after missing 2 weeks of school comes back to school still covered in injuries and begs the teacher not to call "that lady" anymore, begs not to be "helped" because help wasnt coming. I find it so hard to believe that the teachers and principal and school nurse didnt band together and make a show of helping this child. The school district wouldnt fire them all. And maybe this poor child would be alive. Im not blaming the school, they did what they thought was the correct action and hoped that someone would do their dang job. But I like to think that if I saw a child in that situation I wouldnt have rested until i had exhausted every available option.
I hadnt considered this option. But now that youve said it it makes sense. There is a way to escalate carea nd it wasnt done.
I am SICK to my stomach that a child, after missing 2 weeks of school comes back to school still covered in injuries and begs the teacher not to call "that lady" anymore, begs not to be "helped" because help wasnt coming. I find it so hard to believe that the teachers and principal and school nurse didnt band together and make a show of helping this child. The school district wouldnt fire them all. And maybe this poor child would be alive. Im not blaming the school, they did what they thought was the correct action and hoped that someone would do their dang job. But I like to think that if I saw a child in that situation I wouldnt have rested until i had exhausted every available option.
People don’t realize the issues that go with this sort of situation. The workers are often not properly trained and management is often dysfunctional. I know when I worked for a sister agency, the local agency head was just awful. He stepped down after workers filed complaints that he did not provide proper training and created a hostile work environment. He would call the woman who did his equivalent job at my agency and treat her like his inferior, yelling at her and making demands that she do X and Y. I would see her sometimes and she would almost be in tears, and this was not a woman who was normally emotional. It was so bad that she refused to talk to him in person and gave him a dedicated voicemail line where he could leave messages. It was no wonder that they barely got anything done! Many of the workers under this guy were wonderful, but many were just clueless.
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