Legal Liability?

[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.

[towermatt]

Well, there is the COPPA thing on the board but that is for 13 and under.

This makes me think because I have a few members that are under 18 (some start reading Stephen King young).

As far as what to do...I'm not sure. It seems like these days people are always posing as things the are not but if its actually happening, I would say someone has to be involved for sure.

That is a very tough question.

[BrandiDup]

Well, I reported it to her ISP, with the IP, date and time of post and links as well. I told them I have no idea if I'm doing the right thing and I'm probably not contacting the proper people, but I wanted to at least make it known to SOMEONE so that I'm not the one in trouble for not at least attempting. I don't know how else to even get ahold of her real information besides having her ISP involved. So, maybe they know better than I do as far as what should be done.

[Wayne Luke]

Originally Posted by BrandiDup

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.

In the state of California, you are only mandated to tell if you are one of the following: minister, teacher, school guidance counselor, doctor, nurse, EMS, law enforcement, firefighter or therapist.

You should encourage her to talk to one of the above or call 1-888-649-6905.

You have no reasonable expectation of gathering this girl's information. If you collect this information at registration, you can forward it to her local police/sheriff department so they can follow up but if you do not then she probably isn't going to give it to you anyway. If you can track her to living on base via IP, then you can forward her information to the commanding officer.

[towermatt]

I think that may be the best you can do. Since she isn't posting anymore it won't come up again.

I guess if you were really worried you could email her using her member profile addy and just offer to help if you can, maybe find out where she lives. Then maybe local authorities

I'm not sure what she said or if you want to get in that far though, I think reporting it to her ISP is a very good thing to do though.

[Freesteyelz]

Wayne gave good advice. What he's suggesting is to give the girl an outlet if she's telling the truth. By providing that information to her you've done your job as an admin.

As towermatt said it is a tough question because it seems that you're unsure if the girl is telling the truth. Based on the information you've given it is general, nothing specific. Was it just one post or a series of posts with detail of abuse? In your post you mentioned suicide but did the girl ever say or hint that she was thinking about it? If yes, did she have a plan of action or was it just talk? Did she post anything else before revealing being abused (meaning did her mood change)?

In my line of work I am required to notify the authorities if I suspect abuse. I have in the past. Fortunately all of the cases I made the report were found to be true. I always cringe at the idea of releasing personal information because of confidentiality and the thought "what if" I am wrong. It is why I will always side on caution in these cases.

[Chris M]

While I am unaware of all your quirky laws, I find it highly unreasonable to hold the Admin/Owner of a forum responsible for a situation like this...

I certainly wouldn't be pressured into telling any authorities about it, and would only do so if I personally felt compelled to...

Chris

[BrandiDup]

Well, I guess due to the nature of our board, it's natural for people to suffer from depression, to an extent. Since it's a Military Spouse support board, most of the ladies on the board are dealing with a lot- their husband is gone, they are single parenting, stressed out, etc. So, we have had a few suicide threats/notes and I've personally felt compelled to report those to local authorities because I felt they were serious.

In this case, I'm not really sure what to think. There have been a lot of other issues surrounding this whole situation, which indicate that she could very well be lying, but I still don't want to take chances since I do know that she is a minor. So, more than anything, in this case, I mostly want to make sure my butt is covered.

Since we do encounter this type of thing every so often though, I was just mainly wanting to get a definite answer to what my legal liability is for reporting things in cases of alleged abuse or suicide. If I felt personally compelled to report it, I definitely would, if I felt it was sincere. But in some cases, I have good reason to believe it's a troll or someone just wanting to get attention. I just want to be sure of what my duties are, so I don't do the wrong thing.

Thank you so much for your input and advice. I always struggle to do the right thing but it seems that some people take advantage of people on the internet just because they are faceless and don't have to own up to their lies. It makes my job a lot harder and more complicated.

[Wayne Luke]

Originally Posted by BrandiDup

Since we do encounter this type of thing every so often though, I was just mainly wanting to get a definite answer to what my legal liability is for reporting things in cases of alleged abuse or suicide. If I felt personally compelled to report it, I definitely would, if I felt it was sincere. But in some cases, I have good reason to believe it's a troll or someone just wanting to get attention. I just want to be sure of what my duties are, so I don't do the wrong thing.

To get a definite answer you should setup a free 30 minute consultation with a lawyer. They would be able to tell you in regards to specific laws.

Personally, I think you have done what you can do with the information you have.

[towermatt]

It hasn't been said but it should be--

Thank you Brandi for supporting military wives and our service people by proxy.

It is a very wonderful thing to do. I hope this works out.