Lawmakers Look To Expand Reporting Requirements Of Suspected Child Abuse
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, State Sen. Kevin Parker, and other elected officials have proposed legislation that would expand mandatory reporting requirements of suspected child abuse cases.
Currently, workers such as police officers, teachers and doctors are mandated by law to report suspected cases of child abuse, WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported.
However, following the death of 3-year-old Jeida Torres at a Brooklyn homeless shelter last week, Sen. Parker says he's learned the law does not include subcontractors working at city homeless shelters.
"You assume that everybody that comes in contact with children in this context would have that mandate, but they obviously didn't. And so we really need to close that loophole," Parker said.
Now introducing legislation to do just that, Brooklyn Borough President Adams says this bill might have saved little Jeida.
"I believe it's possible that someone could have heard the children screaming or crying or may have saw an old wound on the child," Adams said.
Jeida's stepfather, 20-year-old Kelsey Smith, has been charged with murder.
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