> If the child is not in any actual danger, then people who call emergency services or police need to be cited for wasting resources.
As a mandatory reporter, my instructions are if there is any possibility report and let the experts figure it out. There is no harm to me if I report and nothing is found. However if they discover something and find that I was in contact with the kid in question they will investigate: if there is anything that I should have seen I'll be arrested for not reporting it.
I appreciate that mandatory reporting laws exist for evidence of abuse, and to an extent, suspicion of abuse; but does your training say that children left alone less than a few hours, is abuse or is suspicious by itself, and needs to be reported?
There is always the possibility for anything, so that cannot be the bar.
My training is if there is any possibility of anything report. They specifically told me not to think. Telling me a few hours is okay would mean I now have something to think about and I'm not allowed to do think.
How do I report you for taking the time to reply here instead of reporting that Amy, Brad, Charlie, Drake, Emily, everyone, etc.. parents all have the possibility of abusing them, that their siblings all have the possibility of abusing them, that their friends all have the possibility of abusing them, that their teachers all have the possibility abusing them, that you could be a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning and not remember that you could also be abusing them, that the police have the possibility of abusing them, that secret agents could be sneaking into their house at night and abusing them.
If that was your instructions, then your full-time job should be making reports and nothing else.
See how absurd your instructions were, or what you think your instructions were?
Unfortunately bad instructions and no one getting those instructions changed, helps lead to this nonsense that we hear about in the news, and the thousand (tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands?) cases that are just as bad but not as newsworthy.
> It’s not just a message to parents, it’s the broader society.[...] A mom was recently arrested for letting her 10-year-old son walk into town. These types of incidents only fuel the school car pickup culture
