Responding to Abuse Allegations & Dealing with Authorities
In my last post about responding to abuse allegations, I recommended notifying parents about allegations. A friend emailed to point out that law enforcement and licensing authorities often want to be the first people to contact parents. The investigators try to persuade or coerce organizations into not notifying parents, often going so far as to threaten obstruction of justice charges.
It is true that, once law enforcement or licensing authorities are involved, you should cooperate with them. However, I also believe that you should not let anyone else, even a lawyer, run your program. Lawyers, law enforcement, and licensing authorities tend to share two common characteristics: (1) we know our field very well, but we know very little about how our advice impacts your day-to-day business, and (2) our advice invariably makes our jobs easier than it makes yours. So, listen to our advice, but do not be afraid to point out when it is going to complicate your life, and to work with us to adapt it to your particular circumstances.
Those principles apply particularly to high-profile or emotionally-charged incidents. The last thing you want is to have parents learn about accusations from the grapevine instead of from you. So, if the grapevine is getting ahead of the law enforcement or licensing investigation, let the investigator know. Work with your lawyer to get a statement out as soon as possible. I sometimes help my clients draft a letter, then send it to the investigator with the explanation that the organization is fielding questions that it needs to answer, and that if we do not hear to the contrary within the next X days, we will assume that the investigator has no objection to our sending out the enclosed letter.
Above all, remember that you have both an obligation not to interfere with the investigation and an obligation to talk to parents about their child. In situations like this, where you can get into trouble with someone no matter what you do, I always recommend going with the option that lets you sleep at night.
