Tulsa Public Schools Policy 2110-R: Reports of Child Abuse/Neglect
Oklahoma law requires every person having reason to believe that a child under the age of eighteen (18) years is a victim of abuse or neglect to promptly report to the Department of Human Services (DHS). Reports shall be made to the Department of Human Services Hotline.
Any person, who knowingly and willfully fails to promptly report suspected child abuse or neglect or who interferes with the prompt reporting of suspected child abuse or neglect may be reported to local law enforcement for criminal investigation and, upon conviction, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Any person with prolonged knowledge of ongoing child abuse or neglect, who knowingly and willfully fails to promptly report such knowledge may be reported to local law enforcement for criminal investigation and, upon conviction, shall be guilty of a felony. For the purposes of this paragraph, "prolonged knowledge" shall mean knowledge of at least six (6) months of child abuse or neglect.
Any person who knowingly and willfully makes a false report or a report that the person knows lacks factual foundation may be reported to local law enforcement for criminal investigation and, upon conviction, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who, in good faith and exercising due care, reports suspected child abuse or neglect, or who allows access to a child by persons authorized to investigate a report concerning the child shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed. Any such participant shall have the same immunity with respect to participation in any judicial proceeding resulting from such report.
The following definitions give guidance on what constitutes child abuse or neglect:
“Abuse” – harm or threatened harm to a child’s health, safety or welfare by a person responsible for the child’s health, safety or welfare including sexual abuse and sexual exploitation;
“Harm or threatened harm to a child’s health or safety” includes, but is not limited to:
a. nonaccidental physical or mental injury,
b. sexual abuse,
c. sexual exploitation,
d. neglect,
e. failure or omission to provide protection from harm or threatened harm, or
f. abandonment;
“Neglect” means failure or omission to provide:
a. adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and supervision,
b. special care made necessary by the physical or mental condition of the child, or
c. abandonment;
“Sexual abuse” includes, but is not limited to, rape, incest and lewd or indecent acts or proposals made to a child, as defined by law, by a person responsible for the child’s health, safety or welfare;
“Sexual exploitation” includes, but is not limited to, allowing, permitting, or encouraging a child to engage in prostitution, as defined by law, by a person responsible for the child’s health, safety or welfare or allowing, permitting, encouraging, or engaging in the lewd, obscene, or pornographic photographing, filming, or depicting of a child in those acts as defined by the state law, by a person responsible for the child’s health, safety or welfare.
The reporting obligations are individual, and no employer, supervisor, or administrator shall impede or inhibit the reporting obligations of any employee or other person. No employer, supervisor or administrator of any employee or other person required to provide information can discharge this responsibility, discriminate or retaliate against, the employee or other person who in good faith provides such child abuse reports or information, testifies, or is about to testify in any proceeding involving child abuse or neglect; provided that the person did not perpetrate or inflict such abuse or neglect. Any employer, supervisor or administrator who discharges, discriminates or retaliates against the employee or other person shall be liable for damages, costs and attorney fees. The District requires every employee who reports child abuse/neglect to DHS shall immediately thereafter advise the principal, the principal’s supervisor, or the Director of Health Services.
To facilitate the reporting process, upon receiving notification by the District employee, who made the original report to DHS, of any suspected case of child abuse or neglect, regardless of the identity of the alleged abuser, the principal will immediately call the school nurse to assess the child. If the school nurse is not on site, the school nurse should be paged. If the evidence appears to confirm the suspicion and if the employee reporting has not called the DHS Hotline, the principal or designee will immediately phone the DHS Hotline and also the dispatcher at the Tulsa City Police Department. The principal or designee will complete the District’s Child Abuse Report, giving all pertinent details regarding the case. The report will be signed by the principal, the school nurse, and any other employee involved.
If the employee, making the initial report to DHS does not have a principal or principal’s designee to whom to report, the employee will make the report to the employee’s immediate supervisor. The employee’s immediate supervisor will promptly forward the completed District Child Abuse Report to the child’s principal or designee.
Appropriately identified investigators of the Department of Human Services or the District Attorney’s office will be permitted access to a student involved in suspected child abuse, or neglect.
The principal or designee will arrange the interview in a manner that minimizes embarrassment to the child. The principal will not contact the parent/guardian or other person responsible for the child’s health or welfare before the interview. District employees will not be present during the interview, except that a campus police officer may be present as an observer or participant in the interview if requested by a representative of the Tulsa City Police Department.
The Principal will retain the original completed District Child Abuse Report form and send the remaining copies to Tulsa Public Schools Health Services for distribution to the Child Abuse Registry of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Upon request, District Health Services will also send a copy of the Child Abuse Report form to the Tulsa City Police Department’s Child Crisis Unit for ages 0-10 and the Exploitation Unit for ages 11-15. The Director of Health Services at the Education Service Center will maintain a copy of each completed Child Abuse Report form. District personnel will maintain the District Child Abuse Report form and any summaries of confirmed reports of sexual abuse or severe physical abuse received from the Department of Human Services in a confidential manner. Any violation of the confidentiality requirement can be punished by law. Any summaries of confirmed reports of sexual abuse or severe physical abuse received by District personnel shall be destroyed when the student involved reaches the age of 18.