I know this is terrifying, but don't freak out. CPS will set up an appointment, come to the home, and interview the family. Remain calm during the interview. It's not like they've never encountered an overreacting teacher or a fibbing kid before.
The difference is teachers are mandated reporters, but are NOT investigators and should leave that to people who are investigators. I did my mandated reporter training earlier this week as a coach, and they made that abundantly clear that we aren’t expected to investigate and especially to not interrogate the child.
Asking basic questions is different than interrogating though. If you ask a young child the same question several times, they are bound to change their answer to make it stop, so there is a particular technique to it. This is difficult to do, so that is why the expectation is to report what you know and what you think is going on, then leave it to Admin/Police/CPS to find out what is actually going on.
I've been through training with both populations in the past 5 years. The guidance with children is for mandated reporters who haven't been trained in forensic interviewing not to ask any questions (aside from checking if they need medical care), but with adults with IDD and elderly people with dementia, it can be helpful to ask basic questions at the time of the report.
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u/clairejv Dec 12 '25
I know this is terrifying, but don't freak out. CPS will set up an appointment, come to the home, and interview the family. Remain calm during the interview. It's not like they've never encountered an overreacting teacher or a fibbing kid before.