A recent lawsuit offers some important lessons in child protection policies for youth-serving organizations (YSOs). A school resource officer (SRO) has filed suit in Savannah, Georgia, alleging that his supervisors retaliated against him for reporting allegations by two high school students that another SRO had sexually abused them. As with all legal complaints, we have only one side of the story, and it's too early to tell what actually happened. Nevertheless, the officer's version of events offers a cautionary tale for youth organizations.
The plaintiff, Sgt. Carl Quarterman, alleges that he learned of the allegations from a third SRO, who passed on reports from a now-adult relative that she had been assaulted two decades earlier while a student in high school. Quarterman says in his complaint that he was a mandated reporter and thus required to report the allegation. His supervisors told him and the third SRO not to discuss the allegations as the investigation moved forward. The internal investigation unit interviewed the alleged victim, and then reported her statements to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI closed the case because the statute of limitations had passed. Quarterman's supervisor then told the accused lieutenant about the allegations, interviewed him, and took no further disciplinary action. Four days after that interview, Quarterman wrote a letter to the school superintendent and county District Attorney expressing disagreement with the way that his supervisor had handled the situation. His complaint alleges that after that letter, he was demoted, placed on probation, and had his shift changed. He filed suit against the school board, school district, and his department. All the defendants have denied the claims and argued that Quarterman's letter disclosed confidential information about the investigation.
Of course, all youth organizations want to avoid lawsuits like these. Even if you are vindicated, the process carries its own punishment. There are a couple of lessons that YSOs can learn from these allegations:
1. I have one quibble with the facts set out in the complaint. School system employees are mandated reporters in Georgia, but only when they hear of allegations involving current students. Former students, according to the Georgia Supreme Court in a 2014 case, do not fall within the ambit of mandated reporter responsibilities. Thus, this plaintiff, while required by law to report any allegations from current students, had no legal obligation regarding former students. As the Court found in that 2014 case, "That [the teacher] was not legally obligated to report the abuse does not mean, of course, that she was not morally obligated to do so." The same holds true in this case. Even though I don't believe the plaintiff was a legally-obligated mandated reporter, I have no disagreement with whatever moral obligation he might have felt.
2. In fact, never discourage anyone in your organization from making a report to child protection authorities or law enforcement about child maltreatment concerns. Even if you don't believe the report is required or valid, you never want to find yourself defending against claims that you downplayed reports of abuse. According to this lawsuit, the supervisor responded to the initial reports by praising the SRO for speaking up and reassured him that he would not face retaliation. That was exactly the correct response.
3. We always advise youth organizations to immediately suspend any accused employee or volunteer. Subsequent investigation may clear the staff member, but it's better to err on the side of protecting children while the investigation is underway.
4. It is best practice to require staff members and volunteers not to discuss the allegations among themselves or the community at large. It is not fair to anyone for rumors to start circulating before investigators have done their job, and grapevine activity almost always interferes with good investigations.
5. Plan ahead how you will handle investigations of allegations against someone within your organization. The defendants here had an internal affairs unit for law enforcement, and those units are well-recognized in the industry. Sometimes, you will need to call in outside investigators, whether law enforcement or people that you hire. As in this case, some allegations are so incendiary that they require an outside group (in this case the GBI) to review them. Whatever procedure works best for your organization, be certain that you plan ahead. Develop a plan, train your team using tabletop exercises, and hope that you never face the problem. But if you do find yourself having to deal with these allegations, you will be much better off if you have prepared ahead.
6. Finally, always have an avenue for employees to express concerns about how the investigation is being handled. In our book, Tom Rawlings and I dedicate part of a chapter to how to establish a workable whistle-blower policy for your organization. Everyone in your organization needs to be accountable, and you need an avenue for anyone to express concerns about every employee, volunteer, and administrator in your organization. Moreover, anyone who reports or is thinking about reporting needs to feel that their concerns have been heard and taken seriously. Of course, you can't guarantee that your organization will agree with those concerns, but the process needs to treat all whistle-blowers with seriousness and respect.
It's not possible to keep everyone happy all the time. Someone within your organization at some point will inevitably disagree with one of your decisions. By planning ahead and implementing some basic policies, you will be better prepared to deal with them and protect both the children you serve and the YSO mission you value.
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Interested in learning more?
• Check out the book that Tom Rawlings and I wrote, Protecting Other People's Children: 120 Days to a Strong Child Protection Policy.
• Learn more about principles for creating strong child protection policies in our online courses at YSO Academy.
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