Arkansas Law Review article takes up the Child Maltreatment Act

A case note written by Brandon Massey was published in the current issue of the Arkansas Law Review and discusses what he calls the "fatal ambiguities" of the Arkansas Child Maltreatment Act codified at Ark. Code Ann. §12-12-501 et seq. Among other things, the Act provides for the mandatory reporting of child abuse by certain classes of individuals.

In 2006, The Arkansas Supreme Court took up the Act in Cooper Clinic, P.A. v. Barnes after the medical clinic challenged the statute, arguing that providers are not mandatory reporters under the ACMA. The Court held that the statute was ambiguous and that institutions such as Cooper Clinic cannot be held liable as madatory reporters under the statute.

Following that ruling, the 2007 Legislature removed the word "institution" from portions of the statute imposing criminal sanctions for failure to report. The Legislature did nothing regarding whether institutions can be held civilly liable for failing to report cases of child abuse. Massey suggests that the General Assembly remedy vague language in the Act by including institutions in the list of mandated reporters in the statute. He also suggests further amending the statute to either specifically hold institutions civilly liable or not, just so long as mandated reporters are more certain of their role in child welfare system. This would go a long way, he believes, in resolving the ambiguities and vagueness in the Child Maltreatment Act. Good points. I'll post a link to the article once it's posted online.