Susan is a seven year old child in the second grade. She comes from a poor family and her single mom, Betty, tends to work up to 60 hours per week which requires Susan to spend time with lots of different babysitters. Betty has few friends and even fewer social resources. At school, Susan’s teacher noticed that Susan appeared to be in pain and that she was crying for no apparent reason. Her teacher asked Susan if she was okay and if she had hurt herself somehow. Susan stated that her “private parts were sore” and that her mommy’s friend told her “not to tell anyone what happened or mommy would be in trouble”. Shocked by the child’s disclosure, the teacher immediately contacted the school nurse and the state child protection agency.  

Questions:

1. If Betty knew that Susan was being abused but Betty did not actually participate in the abuse, would there be any legal consequences for Betty? What if Betty did not know of the abuse, would there be any legal consequences for her? How does one prove what a person “knows or should have known”?

2. What is the role of a “Child Protection Team” (CPT) as set forth in Chapter 39 of the Florida Statutes and how could CPT assist Susan and her Mom if in fact her mom had no culpable role in the abuse? What would ‘reasonable efforts” be for this family?

3. Why is child sexual abuse so difficult to identify and prosecute?