Allegations of abuse avoidable

  DEAR ABBY:  This is in response to "Colorado Mother," who kept her
child home from school because of a black eye and bruised cheek
sustained from a fall against a coffee table, which could have looked
suspicious to a day-care operator.  I would have kept my child home,
too, because this is what happened to me:

  My 4-year-old son was fooling around at the Laundromat, climbing up
and down when he'd been told not to.  He fell and got a nasty bruise on
his cheek, but since he felt no discomfort, we let him go to preschool
and thought nothing of it.

  Later, I responded to a knock on my door from a county child-abuse
investigator!  I was appalled.  The investigator questioned me, my son
and my daughter (who witnessed her brother's fall) and concluded that we
were telling the truth, but I learned that once the report had been
made, I had a record and was on their "suspicion" list for a year.

  It got to the point where I examined my son's body daily in the bath
for any bruises sustained in play.  Apparently, one day I missed one,
because the investigator called me!  However, he did say that the
teacher who had made the report was "overly ambitious," constantly
reporting on other parents as well.  Still, I began to live in fear,
worried that the system had gone crazy and might take my child from me.
Perhaps I overreacted, but I was terrified.

  Abby, anybody can report a neighbor for "child abuse," and it doesn't
matter if you're guilty or innocent, the investigation is made, and the
record remains -- CALIFORNIA MOTHER


  DEAR CALIFORNIA MOTHER:  The same day I received your letter, I also
heard from the president of the National Coalition for Child Protective
Reform.  Read on:


  DEAR ABBY:  "Colorado Mother" kept her child home from day care
because the child had hit her face against the coffee table and got a
terrible bruise on her cheek, plus a black eye.  The mother feared being
accused of child abuse.  Abby, you told her she should have sent the
child to school, since she had nothing to hide.

  As a former assistant commissioner of public welfare in Massachusetts,
and a member of the National Board of Directors of the American Civil
Liberties Union, I can tell you "Colorado Mother" acted wisely, and you
are mistaken.

  Schoolteachers are instructed to report a child's "black eye" or
bruise on the chance that the child has been physically abused at home.
Yes, children have been pulled out of class and interrogated, even
strip-searched (for more bruises) -- a terrifying experience for any
child.  Children have been placed in foster homes temporarily while
social workers try to get to the bottom of suspected child abuse.  False
allegations traumatize thousands of children every year.

  The National Coalition for Child Protective Reform was organized after
a conference at Harvard Law School in an attempt to change this system.
We believe that the laws allowing nearly unlimited coercive intervention
into families need to be narrowed, and child-protective hot lines must
be required to carefully screen allegations before launching
investigations.  -- ELIZABETH VORENBERG, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL COALITION
FOR CHILD PROTECTIVE REFORM, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
                    

  DEAR ELIZABETH VORENBERG:  It is good to know that the witch-hunt of
false accusations has not gone unnoticed.  Our children should be
protected, but parents must also be protected against false
accusations.

====== (C) Abigail Van Buren.  Reproduced without permission =====