Mandated Reporting

P OLICE I NVESTIGATIONS OF R EPORTS OF C HILD A BUSE AND N EGLECT

Section 7

A. I NVESTIGATORY I NTERVIEWS A mandated report of child abuse or neglect must be investigated by local law enforcement or another appropriate agency. 79 As a result of a mandated report, law enforcement or child protective workers may visit the workplace in order to interview the child or other witnesses. Until recently, very little guidance was provided regarding what a school, day camp or other entity should do in response to law enforcement investigations and requests for interviews. In Greene v. Camreta , the Ninth Circuit analyzed what a school district’s responsibility is in the wake of a request from law enforcement or another investigative agency for an interview with a child in the district’s care and custody. 80 An Oregon Deputy Sheriff accompanied a Department of Human Services case worker to a minor student’s school and was present during the two-hour interview of the minor. The case worker conducted the interview but the Deputy Sheriff, who did not have a warrant, court order, exigent circumstances or parental consent to question or be present while the student was questioned, sat through the interview. 81 The Deputy Sheriff did not ask any questions during the interview. The Court held that the in-school seizure of a suspected child abuse victim is not permissible without a court order or parental consent because of the Fourth Amendment. 82 The case worker’s decision to have the Deputy Sheriff accompany him to interview the potential child abuse victim “constituted sufficient entanglement with law enforcement to trigger the traditional Fourth Amendment prerequisites to seizure of a person.” 83 In reaching its conclusion, the Court relied on reasoning from an earlier decision where it held the warrantless, non-emergency search and seizure of an alleged victim of child sexual abuse at her home violated the Fourth Amendment. 84 The Court opined there was no evidence in the record to suggest that the “silent presence of a uniformed, armed police officer at an interview of a child in a grade school is helpful in any legitimate way to determining whether the child needs child protective services.” 85 It rejected an across- the-board exception for government officials who may believe there is a “special need” that would automatically justify dispensing of traditional Fourth Amendment protections. 86 The United States Supreme Court vacated the Ninth Circuit’s opinion. 87 It found the issue moot and therefore did not sustain or overturn the decision. Though the Ninth Circuit’s reasoning may provide insight as to how it would rule on a similar case, for now there is uncertainty as to what is required for law enforcement investigations.

Mandated Reporting ©2020 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 21