In May 2019, child sexual abuse by lay catechist Mark Rivera was disclosed to Christ Our Light, a now-defunct church in @midwestanglican. There is no indication that church or diocesan leaders ever reported these allegations to DCFS as legally required.
acnatoo.org/acnatoo-blog/failures-in-mandatory-reporting
The @midwestanglican leaders have claimed there were no mandatory reporting failures on their part, but their reasoning doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
.@ChurchRez is the cathedral church of @The_ACNA @MidwestAnglican and the second church to which the mother reported her daughter’s allegations, as well as her serious concerns about additional children who, unlike her daughter, were in ongoing contact with Mark Rivera.
To this day, @MidwestAnglican leaders assert that there were “no mandatory reporting failures” in this situation, something they claim to have verified with three unnamed lawyers.
During a November 10, 2022 closed-door “family meeting" at Rez, Alec Smith, Advising Chancellor for the @MidwestAnglican and husband of @ChurchRez Sr. Warden Jill Smith, justified church leaders’ failure to report child sexual abuse
religionnews.com/2022/11/17/returning-from-self-imposed-hiatus-acna-bishop-stewart-ruch-works-to-regain-trust/
Alec Smith posited that Rivera was “not in a caregiver position,” that “the abuse claim was hearsay since it was reported by the mother," and that “allowing” the mother to report the abuse instead of church leaders doing so actually represented “victim-centered” best practice.
1) UMD’s Argument: Rivera was not in a caregiver position, so this was “not a DCFS matter.” As such, no clergy or church leaders were required to report.
Analysis: Illinois state law requires mandated reporters to make a report within 48 hours of becoming aware of suspected child abuse or neglect.
It is never the function of a mandated reporter to decide whose jurisdiction a report falls under or to in any way attempt to evaluate or investigate the abuse claims. It is their legal requirement to make a report, full stop.
That report is always first made to the DCFS hotline, as their operators are the ones trained specifically in child protection and therefore best equipped to decide whether a report warrants follow up.
2) UMD’s Argument: The report was “hearsay,” since the mother told the priest, Rev. Rand York, about her child’s abuse, rather than the child telling the priest directly. Therefore Rev. York and other leaders did not have enough information to make a report.
Analysis: The ONLY information a mandated reporter needs to make a report is “reasonable cause to believe a child is being abused ” The state of IL, in its case against Mark Rivera, found a child’s self-report of abuse to be reasonable and grounds for conviction.
By downplaying serious allegations as “hearsay,” @MidwestAnglican can also conveniently ignore the fact that Cherin met with @ChurchRez leaders in June 2019 to share her worries about 3 additional minors who had ongoing contact with Mark.
This is the very definition of having reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused, yet no reports were made by the church on behalf of these children. Cherin later shared these concerns with the authorities.
After two additional victims of Mark Rivera came forward in November 2020, Cherin reminded Dcn. Valerie McIntyre of her concerns about these three children, but still no action was taken by the church to protect them.
Dcn. McIntyre said while it was likely Mark Rivera may have abused one or all of them, there was nothing the church could do unless the children reported abuse themselves. It was not until Joanna Rudenborg emailed Bp Stewart Ruch in January 2021 that Rez finally called DCFS.
3) UMD’s Argument: “Allowing” Cherin to report her daughter’s abuse, rather than the priest reporting it, was the most victim-centered thing to do. Because of this, it was acceptable that church leaders stepped aside and did not report the abuse themselves.
Analysis: A mandated reporter is required to report suspected child abuse within 48 hours, regardless of their personal (and in this case, unfounded) speculations on the victim’s (or their family’s) preferences.
It is never the function of a mandated reporter to place their own legal responsibility on the victim’s family or to defend this action by claiming it is best for the victim. Sometimes it empowers the victim to report it themselves, but specific purposes and parameters apply.
A victim-centered approach means that the victim (or for a minor victim, their primary caretaker) is given the option to report the abuse first themselves with the full and unconditional support of the mandated reporter.
When Cherin later spoke publicly about these mandatory reporting failures, Rev. Rand York falsely claimed that Cherin had asked church leaders not to report her daughter’s abuse and that he was simply following her wishes by not contacting the authorities.
religionnews.com/2021/07/19/acna-mother/
The actions of Rev. York and Sr. Warden Chris Lapeyre were the opposite of “victim-centered.” Learning how Alec Smith and @midwestanglican church leaders defended and justified this mishandling is devastating to Cherin’s family.
To suggest that the actions Cherin’s family experienced as harmful were actually right and caring significantly compounds that harm. Continuing to deny both the original harm and how it has since been compounded is not what learning and repentance look like.
To read our full analysis of @MidwestAnglican's spurious reasoning, click here: acnatoo.org/acnatoo-blog/failures-in-mandatory-reporting
ACNAtoo
@ACNAtoo
Supporting victims of sexual abuse and other harm in ACNA contexts. Resources, networking, whistleblowing. Survivor-led. (ACNA=Anglican Church in North America)