Aug 6, 2018 By: yunews
Daniel Pollack, professor at , has published a new article in Policy & Practice, the journal of the American Public Human Services Association.
In , Pollack explains that adults caring for children have a legal obligation to ensure their safety and that failing to protect them may result in the caregiver being charged with child endangerment or endangering the welfare of a child. Examples of child endangerment can include behaviors like driving while intoxicated with a child in the vehicle, leaving a child alone and unsupervised with available dangerous weapons or opting for spiritual healing rather than conventional medicine when a childs life is in danger.
He also explains how child endangerment charges can be brought against a caretaker even if the behavior of the caretaker isnt specifically directed at a child. He cites a case in which the Supreme Court of Nebraska upheld a fathers conviction of child endangerment even though he threatened the mother with harm but not the children. They ruled that the word endangers also means to expose a minor childs life or health to danger or the peril of probable harm or loss.
Pollack counsels that human services workers and others who believe they have encountered child endangerment, and individuals who have been charged with child endangerment, should seek the advice of an experienced attorney. The attorney should be able to discuss what options are available under the circumstances.
