Mandated Reporting:

As per Penn State Policy AD72, faculty and staff are considered mandated reporters of any current or past incidents of neglect or abuse that they may become aware of through discourse with students in and out of the classroom setting.  Regardless of the current age of the student, if the abuse or neglect occurred while that student was a minor (under age 18), then a report must be made.  This includes disclosure of abuse or neglect via a class written assignment or oral discussion.  Reports would be made to a Penn State Administrator and to PA Child Protective Services.  Please refer to https://policy.psu.edu/policies/ad72 for additional information.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy, please contact the Humany Resources Office, Dawson 17, (570) 963-2590. 

Reporting Child Abuse Training:

Penn State requires that all employees, including adjunct faculty, complete Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse training (per policies AD39 and AD72).

Initial Training Requirements:

  1. All University employees are required to complete the Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse training within the first 30 days of employment.
  2. All University employees, volunteers, and/or independent contractors who are interacting with minors in a youth program, activity or service must complete the Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse training prior to working within the program, activity or service.

Ongoing Training:

  1. All University employees, volunteers, and/or independent contractors who are interacting with minors in a youth serving program, activity or service must complete the Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse training on an annual basis.
  2. All other University employees will be required to complete the Annual Compliance Training on a yearly basis which will include a review of the instructions for reporting suspected child abuse.

It is important, once you complete “Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse” training, to retain a copy of your Certificate of Completion and to submit a copy of the certificate to the program or unit where you are working.  New part-time faculty must complete this training and submit a copy of this certificate prior to the start of classes, to Suzanne Morgan in the Academic Affairs Office, Dawson 7.  A copy can be sent by interoffice mail or by email to [email protected].

In order to provide the easiest access for you, the training is now available online.  The training is available to any employee or student who has a Penn State Access Account.  All Penn State employees will now be able to use their Penn State Access Account  to log into Reporting Child Abuse training. The new online training program “Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse” is available to all Penn State employees in Worklion.  Please log into Worklion (http://www.worklion.psu.edu/), and under the HR Tools drop down box, select Learning Resource Network. The training for "Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse" is in the LRN site.  Computers are available in the computer lab, if needed, for your convenience.

The training is not designed to address the entire issue of child abuse, but it has been specifically designed for Penn State employees to ensure you understand policies/laws, your responsibilities around reporting, and the reporting protocol. 

Employees can also visit the Center for Workplace Learning & Performance (CWLP) e-learning site at https://hr.psu.edu/learning for access to the training.

To ensure you will have the best technology experience, The Learning Resource Network works best in Internet Explorer or Safari web browsers.  In addition, Java will need to be installed and plugins enabled on your machine.   For additional information, please visit our frequently asked questions (http://lrn.psu.edu/frequently-asked-questions/) page.

If you a have problems accessing the training, contact the ITS Service help desk here at Penn State Scranton or at [email protected] or (814)865-HELP (4357).  Questions about the training itself can be directed to the CWLP at [email protected] or (814)865-8216.

In addition to the annual Child Abuse training that must be completed each calendar year. Individuals with a break in service of six (6) months or longer are required to complete a Penn State Arrest and Conviction self-disclosure form before returning to work. Individuals with a break in services of six months or less, including sabbatical leave, maternity leave, or other types of approved leaves of six months or less, are reminded that this self-disclosure requirement is still in force.

For further information on Mandated Reporting and Reporting Child Abuse Training FAQs, please refer to Penn State University's website:  https://universityethics.psu.edu/reporting-child-abuse-training-faq