SUNY CHILD PROTECTION POLICIES TRAINING TRANSCRIPT
(2015)
Module 1
Introduction & Background
Slide 01 Welcome to the Child Protection Policy training, which has been prepared by the SUNY Office of General Counsel and the SUNY Compliance Office.
Slide 02: This is Module 1, Introduction and Background
Slide 03 This training program will provide the background on the Policy on Mandatory Prevention and Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse, adopted by the SUNY Board of Trustees in 2012, and on the SUNY Child Protection Policy, adopted by the Board in 2014. It will provide background on how to recognize child abuse, both physical and sexual abuse. It will provide an in-depth review of the SUNY Child Protection Policy, including policy application, policy definitions and the responsibilities of campuses, university affiliates, and System Administration. It will also explain the required and prohibited conduct by Covered Persons and the duties of the Responsible University Officials. Finally, this training will cover third party use of university facilities under the Child Protection Policy.
Slide 04 The intended audience of this training is System Administration, Campuses and the University Affiliated Organizations. This includes the administrators, campus offices and employees who will be responsible for the implementation and administration of these two policies and for the development of local procedures and training. These individuals are defined under the Child Protection Policy as Covered Persons and Responsible University Officials as will be further explained.
Slide 05: This training will be broken into 10 separate modules to facilitate your review of specific topics.
1. Introduction and Background
2. Defining and Recognizing Child Abuse and the Threshold for Reporting
3. Overview of SUNY’s two Child Protection Policies; Policy Resources
4. Requirements of the Mandatory Reporting Policy; Impact of the Child Protection Policy
5. Child Protection Policy: Policy Definitions
6. Child Protection Policy: Responsibilities of Campuses, University Affiliates and System Administration
7. Child Protection Policy: Conduct of “Covered Persons”
8. Child Protection Policy: Duties of “Responsible University Officials”
9. Child Protection Policy: Third Party Use of University Facilities
10. Child Protection Policy: Review of Policy Resources
Slide 06 SUNY campuses host many programs for children and they also provide space to third parties to hold programs and activities for children. These programs take many forms including summer camps, academic programs, athletic programs, community outreach activities, volunteer programs, and student instruction programs.
Slide 07 The development of SUNY’s child protection policies followed the 2012 report of the special investigative counsel on instances of child sexual abuse at Penn State University, known as the “Freeh Report.” The Freeh Report reviewed egregious instances of long term, undetected child sexual abuse and it made recommendations and cited best practices for managing unaccompanied children at university facilities, university housing and in University programs. Higher education institutions across the country, including SUNY, have enacted policies and best practices to protect children.
Slide 08 SUNY’s commitment to child protection includes two system-wide policies that were developed to protect children who are on our campuses participating in SUNY or SUNY approved programs. Both of the policies were adopted by the SUNY Board of Trustees upon the recommendation of the SUNY Chancellor. Both policies affirm SUNY’s commitment to the protection of children as a system-wide priority.
The Mandatory Prevention and Reporting of Child Sexal Abuse policy, adopted in 2012, mandates the reporting of child sexual abuse occurring during university activities, whether on or off university property. The Child Protection Policy, adopted in 2014, requires campuses, system administration and university affiliates to develop local procedures to protect children on campuses.
Slide 09 This concludes Module 1.
Module 2
Defining & Recognizing Child Abuse
Threshold for Reporting
Title Slide
Slide 01 Defining and Recognizing Child Abuse.
Slide 02 Before we discuss SUNY’s policies in detail, let’s first take a step back to define child sexual abuse and child physical abuse and what it means within the context of SUNY’s policies.
Slide 03 The definition of physical abuse from the SUNY Child Protection Policy is as follows: Physical contact with a child by a covered person which is intended to cause, or causes, pain, physical injury, including punching, beating, shaking, throwing, kicking, biting and burning, or directing a child, outside of the norm of the supervised activity, to perform physical activity which is intended to cause physical injury.
Slide 4 The following are some indicators of physical abuse of children. Frequent injures of any kind; including bruises, cuts or burns, especially if the child is unable to provide an adequate explanation of the cause. Injuries may appear in distinctive patterns such as grab marks, human bite marks, cigarette burns, or impressions of other instruments. Human bites compress flesh causing bruises; whereas animal bites normally tear the flesh. Injuries to both sides of the head or body could also indicate physical abuse, because accidental injuries typically only affect one side of the body.
Slide 5 Additional indicators of the physical abuse of children include: Injuries to the nose which could cause bleeding, swelling, or deviation of the bone; Injuries to the mouth which could cause bleeding, swelling, loose or missing teeth or bruises from a gag; Injuries to the eyes could cause visible hemorrhages.
Slide 6 Injuries to the ears, which could cause bleeding, visible twisting injuries to the ear lobe and bruises; Injuries to the head, which might be visible as bald patches caused by hair pulling, paralysis of facial muscles and bruises on the face; Injuries to the abdomen, which may cause vomiting.
Slide 7 Injuries to the skin may also indicate physical abuse. These may be seen as lacerations, bruises, welts resembling the shape of an instrument such as strap marks, belt buckles, looped cords or electrical cords. Further indicators of physical abuse are the presence of multiple skin injuries in various stages of healing such as the presence of multiple old and new bruises, choke marks on the neck, rope burns or blisters (especially around the wrists or ankles) and bruises on the back of the legs.
Slide 8 Burns may also indicate physical abuse. These might include burns in geometric shapes, contact burns involving both palms, burns or blisters on the back of the hands, immersion burns that are sock-like or glove-like, cigarette burns, burns on areas typically protected by clothing, and blistering from chemical burns.
Slide 9 Skeletal injuries, without fractures, may also indicate physical abuse. Such injuries may be observed as tenderness at the joints from pulling, jerking or dislocation and tenderness in the ribs.
Slide 10 There also exist certain behavioral indicators of the physical abuse of children. These may include destructive, aggressive or disruptive behavior; aggression toward peers or siblings; apprehension when other children cry; and destruction of property and vandalism. Other behavioral indicators may be passive, withdrawn or emotionless behavior, such as shying away from touch, flinching at sudden movements, or being wary of adults. Physical abuse may also be indicated by behavioral extremes such as aggression or withdrawal. Physically abused children may fear going home, fear their parents or caregivers, seek affection from any adult, or wear long-sleeved or similar clothing to hide an injury.
Slide 11 The Child Protection Policy defines child sexual abuse as follows: Engaging in a sexual offense with a child and/or encouraging or promoting sexual performance by a child. Pursuant to the New York State Penal Law Articles 130, 263, and Sections 260.10 and 260.25, sexual offenses include: sexual misconduct, rape, criminal sex acts, forcible touching, persistent sexual abuse, sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse, course of sexual conduct against a child, facilitating a sex offense with a controlled substance, sexually motivated felony, predatory sexual assault against a child, and sexual performance by a child. This also includes Penal Law offenses relating to children including endangering the welfare of a child and unlawfully dealing with a child in the first degree. Sexual performance by a child, as defined by the Penal Law, is any behavior which results in touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a child for the purpose of sexual gratification of the child and/or adult, including touching by the child and/or adult with or without clothing, and all acts as defined by New York State Penal Law Articles 130, 263 and Section 260.10.
Slide 12 Physical indicators of sexual abuse may include the following: injury to the genital area which may cause pain or itching; difficulty walking or sitting; and bruises or bleeding in the external genitalia. The symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases could also an indication of sexual abuse, including oral venereal infections. Torn, stained or bloody underclothing may indicate sexual abuse, as well as pregnancy, especially in the early adolescent years.
Slide 13 Behavioral indicators of sexual abuse include the following: unwillingness to change clothing for athletic or physical activities; infantile behavior and behaviors indicating withdrawal or fantasy; sexually suggestive, inappropriate, promiscuous or seductive behaviors or verbalizations; poor peer relationships; age-inappropriate knowledge of sexual relations; sexual victimization of other children; exaggerated fear of closeness or physical contact; and self-injurious behavior.
Slide 14 Under the Child Protection Policy, if you have a reasonable cause to suspect child sexual or physical abuse, you must report.
Slide 15 “Reasonable cause to suspect” means that based on your rational observations and experience, you have a suspicion that a child is being physically or sexually abused.
Slide 16 “Reasonable cause to suspect” means you have a logical basis to suspect. You do not need definitive proof or certainty. “Reasonable cause” can arise from your doubt or distrust of a child’s explanation for their injuries.
Slide 17 Report EACH INSTANCE of physical or sexual abuse that you have reasonable cause to suspect.
Slide 18 The Child Protection Policy prohibits retaliatory action against anyone acting in good faith, who has reported alleged physical abuse or sexual abuse in accordance with the policy, or who is involved in investigating or responding to the allegations of physical or sexual abuse.
Slide 19 Report whenever you have reasonable cause to suspect physical or sexual abuse of a child. Silence is not golden. The policy prohibits retaliatory employment actions that affect salary, promotion, job duties, work schedules and locations; retaliatory actions negatively impacting a student’s academic record or progress; or any retaliatory action affecting the campus environment, including harassment and intimidation.
Slide 20: This concludes Module 2.
Module 3
Overview of SUNY’s two Child Protection Policies
Policy Resources
Title Slide
Slide 01 SUNY has two separate system-wide policies aimed at protecting children.
Slide02 The first is the Mandatory Prevention and Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse, which I will refer to as the “Mandatory Reporting Policy.” The second is the Child Protection Policy, which is the primary focus of this training. A comparison of the two policies as shown in this slide is helpful.
The Mandatory Reporting Policy is aimed at detection and reporting of child sexual abuse. The Child Protection Policy is aimed at prevention, detection and reporting of child sexual abuse, and it also addresses child physical abuse.
The Mandatory Reporting Policy vests the campuses with decisions for its implementation, whereas the Child Protection Policy contains specific directives and action items that the campuses, System Administration and university affiliated organizations must follow.
The Mandatory Reporting Policy applies in all circumstances where children are present, on or off University property, if University business or University-sponsored events are involved. The Child Protection Policy applies when the University, a university affiliated organization or a third party using university facilities is responsible for the custody, control and supervision of children.
The Mandatory Reporting Policy requires that incidents of sexual abuse be reported by all members of the university community. In contrast, the Child Protection Policy mandates reporting of both sexual and physical abuse and provides specific delineation of responsibilities.
Slide 03 Both policies apply directly to all State-operated campuses. This includes the university centers and doctoral degree granting institutions, the university colleges and the technology colleges.
Slide 04 These two policies not directly applicable to the Community Colleges, however, the Board of Trustees’ resolutions adopting the policies strongly encouraged the Community Colleges to adopt similar protections and provisions and to incorporate them into their own local policies relating to minors. The Child Protection Policy resolution specifically requires the Community Colleges to report back to the Chancellor the actions they have taken.
Slide 05 Finding the Child Protection Policies and Resources on SUNY’s website.
Slide 06 You will find the Child Protection Policy and the Mandatory Reporting Policy on the SUNY System-wide Policies and Procedures website. The URL address for that website is shown on this slide. You can access the policies by going directly to that link, or you can search by policy name. You can also search by category of policy. These policies are under the Protection of Children category.
Slide 07 The links shown in these training slides are active links, which will take you directly to the websites. You may also access the policies by visiting the SUNY Compliance website, which has a page entitled “Child Protection at SUNY,” which will also link you to other child protection resources.
Slide 08 Among the resources available on both the SUNY Policies and Procedures website and on the Compliance website is the Child Protection Policy Guidance Document. The Guidance Document clarifies specific topical areas of the policy and its applicability in various circumstances. The Guidance Document is updated continuously as new questions arise.
In addition, both websites provide a link to the revocable permit template that is applicable when third parties use university facilities for activities involving children. A Child Protection Policy ListServ, monitored by attorneys from the SUNY Office of General Counsel, is also available. On the ListServ, campuses may communicate with Counsel’s Office and with each other on any subject related to this policy. To join the ListServ, please visit the SUNY Compliance website to email the Director of Compliance with your request.
Slide 09 This concludes Module 3.
Module 4
Requirements of the Mandatory Reporting Policy