Mandated Reporting: Maine Vs. Mississippi

HN370 Unit 2 Assignment

Mandated Reporting Maine Vs. Mississippi

Here in Maine Mandated reporters are a very important part of how Maine’s child protective system finds early signs of child abuse and neglect. In Maine the “laws require that medical, mental health and social services personnel immediately report or cause a report to be made to Maine Department of Health and Human Services.” Maine laws also require the same process for adult neglect and abuse.

This happens when there is suspicion of neglect, abuse, or death. Something that I learned and never really thought about prior to this assignment is that the individuals that work with children and encounter them frequently are those who will be able to suspect abuse or neglect. These individuals are mandated to report such cases and if they do not, they could serve jail time, and pay significant fines. Mandated reports can be made 24 hours a day 7 days a week by dialing a specific phone number.

Mississippi has many individuals that are required to report abuse and neglect. These individuals include, physicians, dentists, social workers, ministers, childcare givers, teacher, and more. When there is a report that needs to be made, whether it is a child being abuse, neglected, or a victim of sexual exploitation or human trafficking. When giving a report its necessary to give the name and address of the child, the name and address of the parents or individuals who are responsible for the child. You need to report the child age, a what injuries you are witnessing, if you do have information that would be helpful in helping the child.

In Mississippi if you do not report the child’s abuse or neglect, the individual could be fines up to $5000.00 or jail time up to a year. In many cases both are issued depending in the case. It is my understanding that many individuals fail to report because they do not want to individuals that are being reported to find out. In Mississippi the identity of individuals that report are not given to anyone other than law enforcement.

I currently live in Maine, and I chose to also research Mississippi because I lived there for the first eight years of my life. While living there, I was being abused physically, emotionally and sexually by my father and grandparents. With that being said I wanted to know if the laws where similar or not. I was surprised to see how similar the laws are.

Maine and Mississippi both have similarities when it comes to overall picture of what it is to be a mandated reporter, but although there are similarities there are also differences. They both require reporting, otherwise there are penalty’s that can be set for those who choose not to report the abuse, or neglect.

There are however differences when it comes to mandated reporting in Maine and Mississippi, for example the fines for not reporting the abuse are higher in Mississippi then Maine. Although I find it to be obvious, when I was doing research on the two states Maine had no rules about what needs to be reported, like in Mississippi you need to report names, age, and addresses. I would assume this is the same in all states and even for those who are not mandated reporters, it’s kind of like common sense to me.

Being an adult now, and a survivor of sever neglect and abuse, I feel as everyone should be considered a mandated reporter because although you must gather as much evidence as possible because making an accusation. I was once in a situation where I tried reporting a bad foster family, but nothing was done, and I was wondering if that was because I am not a mandated reporter.

Reference Page

Maine Mandated Reporter Requirements. (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://www.maine.gov/pfr/professionallicensing/mandated_reporter.html

Mandatory Reporting Requirements: Children Mississippi. Mar. 2020, apps.rainn.org/policy/policy-state-laws-export.cfm?state=Mississippi&group=4.

 

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