September 1, 2017 BOE Re: Protecting Minors From Abuse

[Jack Ryan]

September 1, 2017 TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS Re: Protecting Minors From Abuse

Spanish version:

this appears to be a replacement for

August 1, 2016 TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS Re: Protecting Minors From Abuse

which in turn replaced

October 1, 2012 TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS Re: Child abuse

Seems that the new policy is slightly more proactive.

They've gone from a passive "Never suggest to anyone that they should not report..." to a more robust "Therefore, when the victim, his parents or any other person present to the elders an accusation of this nature, they should be clearly informed about their right to file a complaint with the authorities. "

A step, however tiny, in the right direction, at least.

------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure crossing out paragraph 19 of chapter 12 of ks10 is a step in the right direction. On the surface, it appears to be but notice what is being crossed out:

If you are asked, make it clear that whether to report the matter to the authorities or not is a personal
decision for each individual to make and that there are no congregation sanctions for either decision.

This is being replaced with:

they should be clearly informed about their right to file a complaint with the authorities.

Notice the elders aren't being told to make it clear to the parents that there are no sanctions for reporting. They're only mandated to tell the parents that it's their right to report to the police. Then the eldersare told to not criticize anyone for making that decision.

I can well imagine elders comparing the new instruction with what they're being told to cross out to see what the difference is and, when noticing that the new instruction does not say to tell the parents there are no sanctions for reporting, might conclude that they should not tell this to the parents. So I can see a conversation going like this:

Elders: It is your right to make a report to the police if you so desire.
Parents: But would that bring reproach on the congregation? Would that affect our standing in any way?
Elders: All we can say is that it is your right to make a report to the police if you so desire.

Parents go away thinking that the elders are legally required to tell them that it's their right to report but that their unwillingness to say what effect such reporting would have on their standing, might be a subtle way of hinting to them, by omission, that they should not report because there will be adverse consequences, and that maybe they're legally barred from explicitly saying so.

They should have replaced paragraph 19 of chapter 12 of ks10 with:

Be sure to clearly inform the victim and/or their parent(s) that reporting the matter to the authorities is a moral responsibility and that there are no congregation sanctions for doing so. (Leviticus 5:1; Matthew 22:39; Romans 13:1-4)