Va. legislators seek stronger child abuse reporting laws

RICHMOND

Football coaches, day camp counselors, college professors and others who may work with children could be added to the list of people required by law to report suspicions of child abuse, and may also face new criminal penalties for failure to do so, under proposals making headway in the General Assembly.

Legislators have filed a dozen bills seeking to strengthen Virginia's child abuse reporting laws in the wake of last fall's scandal at Penn State. Some bills add people to the list of those required to report suspected abuse to social services departments. Others constrict the time frame for reporting suspected abuse and heighten the penalty for keeping quiet. And some provide civil recourse for victims of unreported abuse.

The bills' sponsors say they all have one goal: ensuring children suffering from abuse don't go unnoticed.

"These instances are not isolated to Pennsylvania," said state Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax County. "They happen in Virginia."

Three of the bills received unanimous backing in a House of Delegates committee Thursday.

And on Wednesday, the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Subcommittee approved a bill, cobbled together from four, requiring that doctors, teachers and others mandated to report suspected abuse do so within a day. They currently have three days.

The bill also makes failing to report suspicion of the most serious forms of abuse - rape, sodomy and object sexual penetration - a class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

In the House, a similar proposal to require reporting within a day unanimously passed on Jan. 20. It includes a clause to protect staff members - such as an intern at a hospital or a teacher at a school - who report suspected abuse to a superior by requiring the superior to confirm they've forwarded the information to authorities.

That language in particular is important to preventing the type of communication breakdown that led to sexual abuse going unreported for so long at Penn State, said JoAnn Wilson-Harfst of the Virginia League of Social Services Executives.

"I think that goes back to Penn State, where the process or system for reporting fell apart," she said. "I think all of us out in the field have had Penn State situations."

The league also supports adding coaches of private sports teams - such as recreational soccer leagues - and employees of day camps, youth centers and recreation programs to the list of mandatory abuse reporters.

Where legislators and advocates disagree is how much time officials should have to report abuse and who should be required to do so.

Church groups and the Virginia Recreation and Park Society say people may not volunteer at church or in the community if they fear being charged with a crime if they overlook abuse. And a day may not be enough time to figure out what's going on, said Del. Lionell Spruill Sr., a Chesapeake Democrat who has raised concerns about some of the proposed time limits.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia has not taken a position on the bills, said spokeswoman Kirsten Nelson, but paying to train staff at colleges and universities to recognize abuse cases may prove problematic.

Old Dominion University is among those that supports the proposals, said spokeswoman Jennifer Mullen Collins.

Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said he has no problem with being added to the list of mandatory reporters. He said every university's chain of command is different, and the bills may help clarify what's expected when staff members learn of abuse.

"If that is legislated, then that will even make it easier," Weaver said. "If I'm aware of it or someone brings it to me, I'm going to report it. So, no, I have no problem being included, because if you do what's right, you never go wrong."

Pilot writer Andy Bitter and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Kathy Adams, 804-697-1563, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com