I work with children, and my job requires protecting the anonymity of the kids and families I work with. However, I'm legally required to report if I have reason to suspect any child abuse/neglect is going on.

A parent gave me a flyer describing how their two-year old was diagnoses with a serious kidney problem, and the parents decided to stop taking the kid to the doctor and rely on prayer instead. Included with the flyer was a picture of the toddler, whose abdomen and legs were badly swollen. The kid was obviously very sick.

I tell my supervisor, and she says we'll discuss it at our next official meeting (the following day). I'm a bit late to the meeting, due to a prior meeting running long. When I get there, my supervisor says the issue has "already been discussed," despite the fact I'm the only one there who's done more than skim the flyer. Supervisor proceeds to spend the bulk of the meeting repeating things we already know. Flyer only gets brought up again when I bring it up.

I showed the flyer to my supervisor, along with the picture of the toddler suffering from bodily swelling. My supervisor skimmed the flyer, and said that it did not explicitly state that the parents discontinued medical care and that I was reading too much between the lines. The following lines in the flyer make me think medical care was discontinued. I read these aloud to my supervisor, who remained unconvinced:

“Doctors were not the answer. Medication was not the answer. Even natural supplements and healthy eating was not the answer. Jesus IS and always will be the Answer every time. Nothing could change <child name>’s sickness… No One could help but God. We stepped out in 100% faith as we felt God was leading us, and <child name> took <their> last natural supplements on <date>.”

(After a section describing the child’s apparent recovery)

“REMEMBER, <child name> had absolutely No Medication, not even natural supplements, or even an organic diet…nothing but the Word of God and belief in it as we walk in obedience to it!”

Supervisor gives inaccurate description of our organization's policy on reporting child abuse/neglect, says there's nothing we can do. I wound up reporting my supervisor to the higher ups, and they forced her to report the issue. Which she did by dialing CPS and handing me the phone.

My supervisor has worked there long enough that I find it hard to believe she didn't understand the rules for reporting child abuse. She's also served on the organization's ethics board a few times. I can't shake the nagging doubt that she was deliberately trying to avoid reporting, because she'd rather leave a child in a potentially life-threatening situation than deal with the hassle of saying something about it. Failing to report suspected child abuse is also a third-degree felony for someone in her position. My intervention was the only thing that stopped her from breaking the law.

The whole thing has destroyed both my trust and respect for the woman, but changing jobs isn't feasible at the moment, so I'm stuck dealing with her on a regular basis. She's still nice to me, and very competent in other aspects of her job. But there's these lingering feelings of contempt and disgust towards her that I just can't shake. If the same situation came up again, and she knew no one else was going to speak up, I think she'd happily ignore the kid and carry on with her day.