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1.04 Child Abuse, Neglect, Exploitation and Trafficking

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  • Section 1 | General
1.04 Child Abuse, Neglect, Exploitation and Trafficking

Introduction

Under Oklahoma law, district employees have a varying legal obligations under Oklahoma law to report child abuse, neglect and exploitation to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS). District employees are also obligated under Oklahoma law to report suspected child trafficking to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (OBNDDC). In addition, district employees have an obligation to report suspected abuse, neglect, exploitation or trafficking affecting students to principals or other school officials to ensure the student’s safety and welfare while at school or participating in school activities. Although there are no reporting requirements regarding students who are 18 or older, any employee who suspects that an adult student is being mistreated should notify the principal. The purpose of this policy is to provide directives and guidelines to assist district employees in fulfilling their legal responsibility.

Definitions

Certain terms used in this policy have the following definitions:

  1. “Abuse, and neglect or exploitation" shall include, but is not limited to all of the following:
    1. “Abuse” is defined as:
      1. harm or threatened harm through action or inaction to a child's health, welfare (including non-accidental physical pain or injury, or mental injury), or safety, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or negligent treatment or maltreatment, including but not limited to the failure or omission to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter or medical care or protection from harm or threatened harm, by a person responsible for the child's health or welfare. Although “failure to protect” is separate from the legal definition of abuse, any district employee who suspects that a child is not being protected from abuse or neglect has an obligation to report the information to DHS. (10A Okla. Stat. § 1-1-105);
         
      2. willful or malicious harm or threatened harm or failure to protect from harm or threatened harm to the health, safety, or welfare of a child under eighteen (18) years of age by another, or the act of willfully or maliciously injuring, torturing or maiming a child under eighteen (18) years of age by another. (21 Okla. Stat. § 843.5); or
         
      3. the intentional infliction of physical pain, injury, or mental anguish or the deprivation of food, clothing, shelter, or medical care to an incapacitated person, partially incapacitated person, or a minor by a guardian or other person responsible for providing these services. (30 Okla. Stat. § 1-111).
         
    2. Neglect” is defined as any of the following:
      1. the failure or omission to provide any of the following:
         
        1. adequate nurturance and affection, food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, hygiene, or appropriate education,
           
        2. medical, dental, or behavioral health care,
           
        3. supervision or appropriate caretakers, or
           
        4. special care made necessary by the physical or mental condition of the child,
           
        5. the failure or omission to protect a child from exposure to any of the following:
           
          1. the use, possession, sale, or manufacture of illegal drugs,
             
          2. illegal activities, or
             
          3. sexual acts or materials that are not age-appropriate;
             
          4. abandondonment. (10A Okla. Stat. § 1-1-105); or
             
          5. the failure to provide protection, adequate shelter or clothing; or the harming or threatening with harm through action or inaction by either another individual or through the person's own action or inaction because of a lack of awareness, incompetence, or incapacity, which has resulted or may result in physical or mental injury. (30 Okla. Stat. § 1-111). 
             
    3. A "person responsible for a child's health, safety or welfare" includes a parent, a legal guardian, a custodian, a foster parent, a person 18 years of age or older with whom the child's parent cohabitates or any other adult residing in the home of the child, an agent or employee of a public or private residential home, institution or facility, or an owner, operator or employee of a child care facility as defined by Okla. Stat. tit. 10 § 402.
       
    4. “Sexual abuse" is defined as behavior that includes but is not limited to rape, incest and lewd or indecent acts or proposals, made to a child, as defined by law, by a person responsible for the health, safety, or welfare of the child. (10A Okla. Stat. § 1-1-105).
       
    5. "Sexual exploitation" is defined as behavior that includes but is not limited to allowing, permitting, or encouraging, or forcing a child to engage in prostitution, as defined by law, by any person eighteen (18) years of age or older or by a person responsible for the health, safety, or welfare of a child, or allowing, permitting, encouraging or engaging in the lewd, obscene or pornographic photographing, filming or depicting of a child in those acts by a person responsible for the health, safety, and welfare of the child as defined by state law. (10A Okla. Stat. § 1-1-105).
       
    6. “Contributing to the delinquency of a minor” meaning is defined as behavior that knowingly or willfully causes, aids, abets or encourages a minor to be, to remain, or to become a delinquent child or a runaway child. (21 Okla. Stat. § 856).
       
    7. "Incest” meaning is defined as marrying, committing adultery or fornicating with a person within the degrees of consanguinity within which marriages are by the laws of the state declared incestuous and void. (21 Okla. Stat. § 885).
       
    8. “Forcible Sodomy” is defined as meaning sodomy committed:
       
      1. By a person over eighteen (18) years of age upon a person under sixteen (16) years of age;
         
      2. Upon a person incapable through mental illness or any unsoundness of mind of giving legal consent regardless of the age of the person committing the crime;
         
      3. With any person by means of force, violence, or threats of force or violence accompanied by apparent power of execution regardless of the age of the victim or the person committing the crime;
         
      4. By a state, county, municipal or political subdivision employee or a contractor or an employee of a contractor of the state, a county, a municipality or political subdivision of this state upon a person who is under the legal custody, supervision or authority of a state agency, a county, a municipality or a political subdivision of this state, or the subcontractor or employee of a subcontractor of the contractor of the state or federal government, a county, a municipality or a political subdivision of this state;
         
      5. Upon a person who is at least sixteen (16) years of age but less than twenty (20) years of age and is a student of any public or private secondary school, junior high or high school, or public vocational school, with a person who is eighteen (18) years of age or older and is employed by the same school system;
      6. Upon a person who is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act, and this fact should be known to the accused;
         
      7. Upon a person where the person is intoxicated by a narcotic or anesthetic agent administered by or with the privity of the accused as a means of forcing the person to submit; or
         
      8. Upon a person who is at least sixteen (16) years of age but less than eighteen (18) years of age by a person responsible for the child's health, safety or welfare. (21 Okla. Stat. § 888).
         
    9. “Maliciously, forcibly or fraudulently taking or enticing a child away” is defined as meaning maliciously, forcibly or fraudulently taking or enticing away any child under the age of sixteen (16) years, with intent to detain or conceal such child from its parent, guardian or other person having the lawful charge of such child or to transport such child from the jurisdiction of this state or the United States without the consent of the person having lawful charge of such child. (21 Okla. Stat. § 891).
       
    10. “Soliciting or aiding a minor child to perform or showing, exhibiting, loaning or distributing obscene material or child pornography” is defined as meaning:
      1. Willfully solicits or aids a minor child to perform any of the following actions:
        1. Lewdly exposing his or her person or genitals in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby;
           
        2. Procuring, counseling, or assisting any person to expose such person, or to make any other exhibition of such person to public view or to the view of any number of persons, for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer;
           
        3. Writing, composing, stereotyping, printing, photographing, designing, copying, drawing, engraving, painting, molding, cutting, or otherwise preparing, publishing, selling, distributing, keeping for sale, knowingly downloading on a computer, or exhibiting any obscene material or child pornography; or
           
        4. Making, preparing, cutting, selling, giving, loaning, distributing, keeping for sale, or exhibiting any disc record, metal, plastic, or wax, wire or tape recording, or any type of obscene material or child pornography; or
           
        5. Shows, exhibits, loans, or distributes to a minor child any obscene material or child pornography for the purpose of inducing said minor to participate in:
          1. Lewdly exposing his or her person or genitals in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby;
             
          2. Procuring, counseling, or assisting any person to expose such person, or to make any other exhibition of such person to public view or to the view of any number of persons, for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer;
             
          3. Writing, composing, stereotyping, printing, photographing, designing, copying, drawing, engraving, painting, molding, cutting, or otherwise preparing, publishing, selling, distributing, keeping for sale, knowingly downloading on a computer, or exhibiting any obscene material or child pornography; or
             
          4. Making, preparing, cutting, selling, giving, loaning, distributing, keeping for sale, or exhibiting any disc record, metal, plastic, or wax, wire or tape recording, or any type of obscene material or child pornography. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1021).
             
    11. “Procuring or causing the participation of any minor child in any child pornography or knowingly possessing, procuring or manufacturing child pornography” is defined as meaning procuring or causing the participation of any minor under the age of eighteen (18) years in any child pornography or who knowingly possesses, procures, or manufactures, or causes to be sold or distributed any child pornography. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1021.2).
       
    12. “Permitting or consenting the participation of a minor child in any child pornography” is defined as meaning a parent, guardian or individual having custody of a minor under the age of eighteen (18) years who knowingly permits or consents to the participation of a minor in any child pornography. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1021.3).
       
    13. “Facilitating, encouraging, offering or soliciting sexual conduct with a minor” is defined as meaning facilitating, encouraging, offering or soliciting sexual conduct with a minor, or other individual the person believes to be a minor, by use of any technology, or engaging in any communication for sexual or prurient interest with any minor, or other individual the person believes to be a minor, by use of any technology. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1040.13a).
       
    14. “Offering or offering to secure a minor child for the purposes of prostitution or any other lewd or indecent act” is defined as meaning:
      1. Offering, or offering to secure, a child under eighteen (18) years of age for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other lewd or indecent act, or procure or offer to procure a child for, or a place for a child as an inmate in, a house of prostitution or other place where prostitution is practiced;
         
      2. Receiving or offering or agreeing to receive any child under eighteen (18) years of age into any house, place, building, other structure, vehicle, trailer, or other conveyance for the purpose of prostitution, lewdness, or assignation, or to permit any person to remain there for such purpose; or
         
      3. Directing, taking, or transporting, or offering or agreeing to take or transport, or aid or assist in transporting, any child under eighteen (18) years of age to any house, place, building, other structure, vehicle, trailer, or other conveyance, or to any other person with knowledge or having reasonable cause to believe that the purpose of such directing, taking, or transporting is prostitution, lewdness, or assignation. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1087).
    15. “Causing, inducing, persuading or encouraging a minor child to engage or continue to engage in prostitution” is defined as meaning:
      1. By promise, threats, violence, or by any device or scheme, including but not limited to the use of any prohibited controlled dangerous substance causing, inducing, persuading, or encouraging a child under eighteen (18) years of age to engage or continue to engage in prostitution or to become or remain an inmate of a house of prostitution or other place where prostitution is practiced;
         
      2. Keeping, holding, detaining, restraining, or compelling against his or her will, any child under eighteen (18) years of age to engage in the practice of prostitution or in a house of prostitution or other place where prostitution is practiced or allowed; or
         
      3. Directly or indirectly keeping, holding, detaining, restraining, or compelling or attempting to keep, hold, detain, restrain, or compel a child under eighteen (18) years of age to engage in the practice of prostitution or in a house of prostitution or any place where prostitution is practiced or allowed for the purpose of compelling such child to directly or indirectly pay, liquidate, or cancel any debt, dues, or obligations incurred, or said to have been incurred by such child. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1088).
         
    16. "Rape” is defined as meaning sexual intercourse involving vaginal or anal penetration accomplished with a male or female who is not the spouse of the perpetrator and who may be of the same or the opposite sex as the perpetrator under any of the following circumstances:
      1. Where the victim is under sixteen (16) years of age;
         
      2. Where the victim is incapable through mental illness or any other unsoundness of mind, whether temporary or permanent, of giving legal consent;
         
      3. Where force or violence is used or threatened, accompanied by apparent power of execution to the victim or to another person;
         
      4. Where the victim is intoxicated by a narcotic or anesthetic agent, administered by or with the privity of the accused as a means of forcing the victim to submit;
         
      5. Where the victim is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act and this fact is known to the accused;
         
      6. Where the victim submits to sexual intercourse under the belief that the person committing the act is a spouse, and this belief is induced by artifice, pretense, or concealment practiced by the accused or by the accused in collusion with the spouse with intent to induce that belief. In all cases of collusion between the accused and the spouse to accomplish such act, both the spouse and the accused, upon conviction, shall be deemed guilty of rape;
         
      7. Where the victim is under the legal custody or supervision of a state agency, a federal agency, a county, a municipality or a political subdivision and engages in sexual intercourse with a state, federal, county, municipal or political subdivision employee or an employee of a contractor of the state, the federal government, a county, a municipality or a political subdivision that exercises authority over the victim, or the subcontractor or employee of a subcontractor of the contractor of the state or federal government, a county, a municipality or a political subdivision that exercises authority over the victim;
         
      8. Where the victim is at least sixteen (16) years of age and is less than twenty (20) years of age and is a student, or under the legal custody or supervision of any public or private elementary or secondary school, junior high or high school, or public vocational school, and engages in sexual intercourse with a person who is eighteen (18) years of age or older and is an employee of the same school system; or
         
      9. Where the victim is nineteen (19) years of age or younger and is in the legal custody of a state agency, federal agency or tribal court and engages in sexual intercourse with a foster parent or foster parent applicant. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1111).
         
    17. “Rape” is defined as meaning an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a male or female who is the spouse of the perpetrator if force or violence is used or threatened, accompanied by apparent power of execution to the victim or to another person. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1111).
       
    18. “Rape by instrumentation” is defined as meaning an act within or without the bonds of matrimony in which any inanimate object or any part of the human body, not amounting to sexual intercourse is used in the carnal knowledge of another person without his or her consent and penetration of the anus or vagina occurs to that person. Provided further that (1) where the victim is at least sixteen (16) years of age and is less than twenty (20) years of age and is a student, or under the legal custody or supervision of any public or private elementary or secondary school, junior high or high school, or public vocational school, and engages in conduct prohibited by this section of law with a person who is eighteen (18) years of age or older and is an employee of the same school system, or where the victim is under the legal custody or supervision of a state or federal agency, county, municipal or a political subdivision and engages in conduct prohibited by this section of law with a federal, state, county, municipal or political subdivision employee or an employee of a contractor of the state, the federal government, a county, a municipality or a political subdivision that exercises authority over the victim, or (2) where the victim is nineteen (19) years of age or younger and in the legal custody of a state agency, federal agency or tribal court and engages in conduct prohibited by this section of law with a foster parent or foster parent applicant, consent is not an element. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1111.1).
       
    19. “Making any oral, written or electronically or computer-generated lewd or indecent proposals to a minor child under the age of sixteen (16)” is defined as meaning making any oral, written or electronically or computer-generated lewd or indecent proposal to any child under sixteen (16) years of age, or other individual the person believes to be a child under sixteen (16) years of age, for the child to have unlawful sexual relations or sexual intercourse with any person. (21 Okla. Stat. § 1123).
       
    20. “Exploitation” is defined as meaning an unjust or improper use of the resources of a child an incapacitated person, a partially incapacitated person, or a minor for the profit or advantage, pecuniary or otherwise, of a person other than the child, an incapacitated person, a partially incapacitated person, or a minor through the use of undue influence, coercion, harassment, duress, deception, false representation or false pretenses (30 Okla. Stat. § 1-111).
       
    21. “Child Trafficking” as defined below.
       
  2. “Child Trafficking” is defined by the Oklahoma Statutes at Okla. Stat. tit. 21 § 866. includes, but is not limited to behavior that consists of the acceptance, solicitation, offer, payment or transfer of any compensation, in money, property or other thing of value, at any time, by any person in connection with the acquisition or transfer of the legal or physical custody or adoption of a minor child, except as ordered by the court or except as otherwise provided by Section 7505-3.2 of Title 10 of the Oklahoma Statutes. (21 Okla. Stat. § 866).
     
  3. 3. A "person responsible for a child's health, safety or welfare" includes a parent, a legal guardian, a custodian, a foster parent, a person 18 years of age or older with whom the child's parent cohabitates or any other adult residing in the home of the child, an agent or employee of a public or private residential home, institution or facility, or an owner, operator or employee of a child care facility as defined by Okla. Stat. tit. 10 § 402.
     
  4. “Parent” refers to parents, guardians or others who have legal responsibilities for specific children.

Reporting Suspected Child Abuse, Neglect Exploitation or Trafficking

Any district employee having reasonable cause to believe that any student under the age of 18 years is suffering from a victim of abuse, neglect or exploitation shall immediately report this matter to:

  1. Oklahoma Department of Human Services (“DHS”) through the hotline designated for this purpose (1-800-522-3511), AND
  2. local law enforcement.

 Additionally, any district Employees must report suspected child trafficking to:

  1. Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (“OBNDDC”) at 1-800-522-8031,
  2. DHS through the hotline designated for this purpose (1-800-522-3511), AND
  3. local law enforcement. The employee should then provide notice to the school principal or other school official that a report was made, the name of the child, circumstances surrounding the report and the confirmation number provided by the hotline representative.  

Neither the board of education nor any district employee will discharge or in any manner discriminate or retaliate against the person who in good faith provides such reports or information, testifies, or is about to testify in any proceeding involving child abuse, neglect, exploitation, or trafficking, provided that the person did not perpetrate or inflict the abuse, neglect, exploitation or trafficking.

After a report is made to DHS or OBNDDC via the hotline or to law enforcement, the reporting party will prepare a written report which contains the confirmation number of the report (if applicable), the date and time of the telephone contact, the name of the person to whom the district employee made the oral report, the names and addresses of the child student, the parents, and any other responsible persons, the child's student's age, the nature and extent of injuries, any previous incidents, and any other helpful information. A copy of this report will be furnished to the principal or, if the reporter believes the principal is not an appropriate individual, to the superintendent.

Information Concerning Child Abuse, Neglect or Exploitation

In any instance in which the district receives a report from DHS regarding any confirmed report of sexual abuse or severe physical abuse concerning the child, the superintendent will forward to a subsequent school in which the child enrolls all confirmed reports of sexual abuse and severe physical abuse received from DHS, and the superintendent will notify DHS of the child's new school and address, if known.

All information or documents generated or received by the district in regard to the matter are confidential and shall not be disclosed except to investigators of DHS, the district's attorneys, the district attorney's office, a subsequent district in which the child enrolls, a person designated to assist in the treatment of or with services provided to the child or other state or federal officials in connection with the performance of their official duties. The information or documents shall be maintained and transmitted by the district in the same manner as special education records. Such records shall be destroyed when the child reaches the age of 18.

Investigating Child Abuse, Neglect or Exploitation

At the request of appropriately identified investigators of DHS, OBNDDC or the district attorney's office or local law enforcement, the superintendent, principal or other school official shall permit the investigators access to the student about whom the agency received a report. The interview will be arranged in a manner that minimizes embarrassment to the child/student. The superintendent will not contact the parent, guardian or other person responsible for the child's student's health or welfare prior to or following the interview, unless permission for parent contact is provided by DHS, OBNDDC or the district attorney's office[1] or law enforcement authorities. No district employee will be present during the interview. However, a district employee may be present prior to the interview if the employee believes that his or her temporary presence will make the child student more comfortable or if the representatives request the presence of a district employee during the interview.

Reports to Principal or Other School Officials

Suspected instances of child abuse, neglect, exploitation or trafficking, whether the result of circumstances at home, school or at other locations, affects the child student while he or she is in the care and custody of the at school or participating in school activities. Consequently, employees are required to report any suspicion of child abuse, neglect, exploitation or trafficking by any individual, whether the identity is known or unknown, to the principal or other school official. This reporting obligation exists in all instances, including circumstances suggestive of this conduct at school or connected with school activities. Accordingly, this policy includes an obligation to notify the principal or other school official, if for any reason the employee has a reasonable belief that the principal should not be notified, in any instance involving suspected abuse, neglect, exploitation or trafficking of a student.

Immunity for Good Faith Reports

Oklahoma law provides that any district employee who in good faith and exercising due care makes a report to DHS or another appropriate law enforcement office, allows access to a child student by persons authorized to investigate a report concerning the child student or participates in any judicial proceeding resulting from a report, shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed.

Neither the board of education nor any district employee will discharge or in any manner discriminate or retaliate against the person who in good faith provides such reports or information, testifies, or is about to testify in any proceeding involving abuse, neglect, exploitation, or trafficking, provided that the person did not perpetrate or inflict the abuse, neglect, exploitation or trafficking.

Information Concerning Child Abuse, Neglect or Exploitation

In any instance in which the district receives a report from DHS regarding any confirmed report of sexual abuse or severe physical abuse concerning the child/student, the superintendent will forward to a subsequent school in which the child/student enrolls all confirmed reports of sexual abuse and severe physical abuse received from DHS, and the superintendent will notify DHS of the child/student's new school and address, if known.

All information or documents generated or received by the district in regard to the matter are confidential and shall not be disclosed except to investigators of DHS, the district's attorneys, the district attorney's office, a subsequent district in which the child/student enrolls, a person designated to assist in the treatment of or with services provided to the child/student or other state or federal officials in connection with the performance of their official duties. The information or documents shall be maintained and transmitted by the district in the same manner as special education records. Such records shall be destroyed when the child reaches the age of 18.

Reference:    10A Okla. Stat. §1-2-101 et seq.

                        30  Okla. Stat.  § 4-903

                        70  Okla. Stat.  § 1210.163

[1]                    10A Okla. Stat. § 1-6-103(B)(3)(b

Amended April 2019
Amended November 2016
Amended October 2014