[BrandiDup]

I have had somewhat of an issue arise on my board and I'm curious to hear what some of you more experienced admins know about this. Though, I do plan on looking into things myself, as well.

We have a forum for 16 and 17 year olds that is brand new and still in trial stages b/c we had such a huge demand for it. We're a military support board for spouses and significant others, and we had quite a few sophmores and seniors in high school signing up b/c their boyfriends were shipping off to bootcamp. So, this forum was created for them to find support since the remainder of our board is off limits to anyone under 18 (just to keep the general atmosphere more mature).

Already, we have had a girl come on there and say something about how she is being abused at home by one of her parents. And now I am receiving PM's telling me that I am mandated by law to report the abuse allegations since she is a minor.

First of all, this was an eye opener for me. I realize now that allowing minors on the board is WAY too much stress and way more of a work load than I am ready for. So, effective immediately, we will no longer allow anyone under 18.

But now that this has happened, can anyone tell me how this type of thing is usually handled? Is a site admin really supposed to track someone down and report it to authorities? What about in instances of suicide threats? I know teachers, doctors, counselors, etc are mandated by law to report, but are site admins? And if so, how do you even go about tracking someone down? Would you just report to ISP?

Thanks in advance for any advice or input you have to offer.