Sandra Carolina Hernández Rivera

February 7, 2020
SPED 410
Health and Safety: Reporting Suspected Abuse

In the school I’m visiting, as a Special Education Teacher, I was told that you
usually report the suspicion to the counselor or the administrator first. Sometimes you or
they will call the Child Protective Services, who will ask you some questions and you will
inform of what you know.
It is very important to respond to this immediately because we are the adults
responsible when we are in school. If we see something and we don’t do anything about
it, who will? We can’t think of someone else doing it or waiting until something else
happens, because we never know what the consequences will be. No matter who it
involves, it is important to be a first responder, because every child is counting on us.
Taking precautions is never going to be wrong. It is better to be wrong than to be right
and not have done anything about it. Not doing anything about it, is allowing it to
happen. A lot of those children involved in a situation like that won’t know what to do
and a lot of times won’t say anything about it. But if we know what to do and we
understand what happens, we can help something stop or prevent it from happening. It
is also important to understand that we are in no place to do anything about it or act
concerning the situation or make it big or let everyone know. It is important to watch for
every child that we are around of, not just at school. It should be part of us to advocate
for others that might not be able to for themselves and also help them know how to do it
for themselves. We should always be prepared or situations where others might need
help.
If the students know that there is someone that cares and something is done about
something that is hurting them. They realize that they can trust in someone; they can
have some peace that there are people watching out for them and it will help them also
realize that they can speak up, because they saw something come out of you doing
that.