In Pennsylvania, members of the clergy are “mandated reporters” required, under state law, to report evidence of child abuse or maltreatment. The PA Council of Churches reports that the Protect Our Children Coalition, in cooperation with state agencies, is conducting surveys about the availability and types of training for mandated reporters.

The Protect Our Children Coalition, in in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) specifically the Offices of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF) and Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) as well as private-sector stakeholders, has designed a survey to attempt to gain insight from:

· MANDATED REPORTERS OF SUSPECTED CHILD ABUSE working in Pennsylvania to gather information about access to availability of and type of training received (survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RXL3LQC);

· EMPLOYERS OF PERSONS MANDATED to report suspected child abuse in Pennsylvania to determine if training occurs as part of employment and if so the length, frequency, type, and linkage to continuing education credits (survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RXXYL9L);

· TRAINERS/ORGANIZATIONS engaged in direct training of Pennsylvania mandated reporters of suspected child abuse in order to understand the provider's target audiences, curriculum utilized, frequency with which training is offered, and whether training qualifies for continuing education credits (survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RXHX52B).

In an effort to be user-friendly, we have separated the different surveys, but depending on your professional circumstances you may need to complete more than one of the surveys (e.g., you are a mandated reporter of suspected child abuse AND you employ mandated reporters).

Also please feel free to share these surveys with other persons/organizations you think will help better inform our efforts about mandated reporter training in the Commonwealth.

All information gathered, including contact information, will be utilized for internal purposes only. Please complete or facilitate the completion of the survey no later than January 24, 2011. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Cathleen Palm at 610-488-5059.