Suspected Abuse or Neglect
Supporting Our PWCS Students 2020-2021
Post Emergency Contact Information
What To Do If You Suspect Abuse or Neglect
If you become aware of suspected child abuse or neglect, contact Child Protective Services during their business hours, and the non-emergency police department number or the 24-hour Virginia Department of Social Services after hours. Please follow PWCS protocol and state law, and report the suspected abuse or neglect within 24 hours of your concern. If an emergency situation concerning suspected child abuse or neglect, you should contact 911. Please click here for more information.
Please document any reports you make in the PWCS child abuse report link, as you normally would. Please also inform your building administrator and/or school counseling director, as well as other members of the school-based mental health team (i.e. school social worker, school psychologist, school nurse, etc.). Additionally, document that you had to "report a concern" in your notes on Synergy/The Hub.
**If a teacher or other school staff member has a concern about child abuse or neglect, they should, as trained mandated reporters, be the one to contact CPS and share any information they have. As school counselors, you may want to help teachers navigate this process. We want to make sure that the person sharing information with CPS is the one who has the concern. For example, if a teacher receives a concerning email, or sees something troubling in a Smore, the teacher would be the appropriate person to make the CPS call.