Muddling through: The procedural marginalization of child abuse

Abstract

Although a good deal of attention has been given to persuading teachers to report cases of child abuse to a Children's Aid Society (CAS), the difficulties associated with reporting procedures have generally been overlooked. This neglect of the procedural issues has often meant that teachers have come under attack for failing to respond to abuse, although the procedures themselves, and the school context in which decisions about reporting take shape, have escaped some careful scrutiny. This paper draws on data collected as part of a larger study of Ontario women teachers. Information from 264 elementary teachers (mostly female) and 47 principals (mostly male) was collected in three phases: exploratory interviews, a survey, and follow-up interviews. A key part of the survey involved the difficulties associated with reporting to the principal and the CAS. Although the findings illustrate that teachers do not intentionally avoid their reporting role, they also demonstrate that almost half of teachers' suspicions never make it past the principals' desk. The procedural process is complicated by teachers' perception of the kind of CAS response they anticipate, and by the idea that principals can adequately handle reports while safeguarding teachers' daily work with children and their families. Beyond the procedural level, these findings suggest mandatory reporting is not entirely compatible with the work of the school and call for a theoretical assessment of the school's role in promoting the acceptance of family violence.