Google is always the first or if not, 2nd choice when it comes to writing assignment. The moment I typed "Mandatory reporting", 1-10 topics that appeared in front of me are about DCP and child abuse.
Further my research into history of mandatory reporting. I found one PPT website that touched on the history of child protection law in US. It's interesting to realise that "animals protection" law actually came 10 years before child protection law. When it was first introduced, there was no obligation to report abuse; reports stemmed only from incidents which involved serious physical injury or death. In those days, what happened in the family was regarded as a very private manner; children were considered their parent's chattel. Until 1962, one doctor urged physicians to report suspected child abuse. 10 years later, it became a mandatory reporting by law.
The first reported child abuse case - Mary Ellen McCormack-Wilson
She was rescued at 10 years of age.
Her testimony in courtroom:
"My name is Mary Ellen McCormack. I don't know how old i am... I have never had but one pair of shoes, but i cant recollect when that was. i have no shoes or stocking this winter... i have never had on a particle of flannel. my bed at night is only a piece of carpet, stretched on the floor underneath a window, and i sleep in my little undergarment, with a quilt over me. I am never allowed to play with any children or have any company whatever. mamma has been in the habit of whipping and beating me almost everyday. she used to whip me with a twisted whip, a raw hide. The whip always left black and blue marks on my body. i have now on my head two black and blue marks which were made by mamma with the whip, and a cut on the left side of my forehead which was made by a pair of scissors in mamma's hand. she struck me with the scissors and cut me. I have no recollection of ever having been kissed, and have never been kissed by mamma. i have never been taken on my mamma's lap, or caressed or petted. i have never dared to speak to anybody, because if i did i would get whipped. whenever mamma went out i was locked up in the bedroom... i have no recollection of ever being in the street in my life."
Her foster mother was prosecuted for assault and battery. She was placed into a new home and grew up healthily. The ppt i found, it said "grew up normally" hmm i wouldn't use "normally" in such case. It's never going to be normal in the back of her mind.
She married, had 2 children. died at the aged of 92.
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