HYPOTHETIAL SCENARIO:
Mary Ann, a thirty-two-year-old woman, lives in Clinton, Connecticut with her son, Tony, who is eight-years-old, and her boyfriend Jack. Mary Ann also takes care of her mother, Elma, who is elderly and lives with them in their home. Because Jack has trouble holding a job and rarely is employed for more than a few weeks at a time, Mary Ann works as a waitress during the day and as a bartender at night. It is common for her to be gone to work from 5:00 am to midnight. When Mary Ann is home, Jack is generally a decent fellow. He helps around the house, runs the occasional errand and watches a lot of TV.
However, when Mary Ann is at work, Jack behaves quite differently. He drinks most of the time and sits in front of the TV watching baseball. He doesnt care much for Tony or Elma, and he refuses to cook them food so they eat what they can find around the house. As a result, both are very thin and slightly malnourished. When Jack drinks a little too much and his favorite baseball team loses, he gets very angry. Dealing with an eight-year-old boy is the last thing he wants to do, so he sometimes locks Tony in the hall closet to punish him for misbehaving. On a several occasions, Jack has hit Tony when he is angry and Tony regularly has bruises on his arms and legs from the rough way that Jack handles him. Mary Ann notices the bruises, but Jack always explains that Tony is a boy and boys play rough, so the bruises are just from sports or kidding around. On a few occasions, Jack has also hit Elma, but he explains these marks to Mary Ann by saying that Elma is just old and ran into a wall or tripped and fell. He also regularly steals money from Elmas purse, but Elma can never remember how much money she had so she never tells Mary Ann.
Tonys teacher, Miss McKey, has her suspicions that Tony is being abused, but Tony denies that there are any problems at home because he is afraid that his mom will get into trouble. Although Miss McKey is concerned, she decides that Tony is a good kid and she will believe him that there are no problems at home. When Tony is sent to the school nurse because he seems thin, the nurse gives him a cookie and tells him to eat his dinner, then sends him back to class with a smile.
On January 10, 2008, Elma is walking Tony to school, when she trips on a curb and falls down. A neighbor hurries out to help her up, and he notices the bruises on both Elma and Tony. He also notices that they seem thin and pale. The neighbor asks Elma if everything is ok and Elma tells him about Jack. The neighbor then calls the police and reports the situation.
Please read the scenario carefully and discuss any abusive situations in this home. If you find an abusive situation, please discuss what type of abuse is occurring and who is responsible for the abuse.
Second, please discuss who, if anyone, had a responsibility to report an abusive situation in this case. Did they meet that responsibility? What information needed to be reported? To whom should this information have been reported?