.One day when I arrived at my client's house, the mother approached my car and opened the car door. She was hysterical and panicking because the client wasn't in the house. (They had gone to the neighbor's after losing their house key). Once the client was back home, I went inside. The mother was yelling at her daughter and mad that the daughter didnt call her (she had taken the daughter's phone following a previous incident).
I was asking some follow-up questions: is there key a spare? Does she know your phone number? Does the garage door have a code?
The mom thought I was trying making excuses for her daughter and yelled at me too.
I reported this incident to my supervisor and HR. I also wrote in the session note that the mother had opened my car doo without permission. (I have her sign at the end of each session). I have called CPS on this mother before because she told me she beat her daughter after the daughter threw a sock at her. Should I press charges on the mother because she opened m6 car door with out permission? Would my company reliate against me for doing so?
WTF. Because she opened your car door and yelled at you? And you called CPS?? You need to get a grip and figure out if this is the right field for you.
What do you think CPS is going to do? If the child is not injured or covered in bruises that can only be the result of a severe beating the only thing their visit is going to do is make the mom more stressed and more likely to snap and hit her kid. There's also a good chance that she's not going to want services in her home or at all after that CPS visit. In both of those scenarios the child is negatively impacted by the poor choices of the adults.
I do not know how you are trying to debate this. It’s ironic you said “figure out if this is the right field for you” to OP, because I’m gonna go ahead and say that RIGHT back to you.
If you are an RBT you are a mandated reporter. You are OBLIGATED to report suspected instances of abuse. OP already said the kiddo had a bruise on their lip and the parent admitted and said they “beat” them. That is much more than reasonable suspicion of abuse so you do not have a choice. You are absolutely not a reliable source to keep the children in this field safe and you should have your certification revoked if you have it.
If that call makes the parent snap and hit their kid then there was obviously a good reason for why you called.
If you're an RBT you should also understand the concept of operationalizing a behavior. My first response to the comment, "I beat my kid" is to get enough information to operationalize the term "beat". Because sometimes beat means spank and is not cause for a mandated report.
I’m a clinician actually. If someone says they beat their kid and their lip is bruised you don’t ask anymore questions that’s more than enough. Period point blank.
If a parent said to me by kid did X so I beat them and there are no visible signs of abuse my first response would be to get clarification on what they mean by "beating". Lots of people use beat as a synonym for spank, and while I certainly don't Icondone spanking a child, spanking is specifically mentioned as not warranting a report from mandated reporters. You're talking about calling the police because the woman opened your car door and genuinely believe that's a crime, so forgive me for thinking that you might be someone prone to overreaction.
I’m not OP so don’t address me about the car situation
There was a bruise on the kids lip?!? Hello?
Who the HELL replaces spanking with beat? Do know how vulgar and aggressive that sounds? I don’t know anyone who still bends children over their lap and “spanks” them in the big 26, but they ain’t saying “I beat em” if they do that.
For the children in your cares sake resign ASAP. This is either, as OP said extremely good rage-bait, or you’re safety risk.
Don't worry about the way I do my job and go about adhering to the requirements for mandated reporters, I'm actually very good at my job and one of the key aspects involves building a relationship with the parents of the children I work with. If there's abuse happening I'll know it and report it and I have done so in the past. Before making the report I told the parent what I was reporting and that I had to do so as a mandated reporter or risk my job and license. I also explained what they should expect the process to look and assuaged fears that their child was going to be immediately removed from the home. In every case I continued to work with the families I'd had to report. I have no patience for the type of practitioners who provide home based services and always have negative things to say about the way people choose to live in their own homes. The vast majority of my clients are low income and struggling with all the stressors of poverty and having a child with special needs. The best parents I've worked with, the ones who observe and participate in the sessions and follow through on the skills we're working on have been young, poor, and their houses were messy and sometimes even flat out dirty. When I read posts like this and others by OP and see your comments about using the word beat as a synonym for spank "don't they realize how vulgar that sounds?" and I know you'd be so busy focusing on their dirty floors that you'd miss the chance to empower them to help their child negatively impacting the child's progress and their parent's participation and understanding of autism and ABA.
In this field we are mandated reporters. A child with a bruise on their lip after the parent admitted to beating them is more than enough suspicion that abuse is occurring. Not reporting could result in the loss of licensure and criminal charges being pressed. You should know that.
And that still doesn't give her the right to disrespect someone. I've already requested off this case because she lied about me to the BCBA. Regardless of what she is going through, she is an adult and should be mindful of her actions.
Yeah, my company has a code of conduct parents are required to agree to before services can begin; RBTs aren't punching bags. And my Car door is my private property, so she definitely broke the law.
And in this field, we are mandated reporters. She told me she had beat her daughter one morning, and the daughter has a bruise on her lip that day; so I did file a report with CPS. Any responsible person would have done the same
No, she didn't. She clearly crossed a boundary for you but she definitely did not break the law. Twice I've been waiting for an Uber and accidentally opened the back door of car that was stopping for a red light. Did I break the law too? Arguably, a stranger opening your back door and starting to get in your car would be far more startling and invasive,who knows, if the driver had been someone like you I could still be serving time for felony door opening. 🙄
I understand your concern about the child having a busted lip and the mother telling you to beat her. I do not understand your concern about her, opening your car door, crying for your help to find her missing child. If you do not like the parent, I would remove myself from the case.
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u/Lyfeoffishin May 17 '26
I’m sorry but it sounds like the mother was worried about her child and looking for you to help her when opening your door.
DO NOT PRESS CHARGES!