Child Abuse

[thatonegirl]

i'm not a parent at all, but this needs parental advice.

i work for a computer company and help fix peoples computers over the phone. but today i got a stranger than normal phone call.

at first it seemed normal. but about 10 minutes into it i hear a man in the background yelling at a little boy who is crying. he is saying "i'm not going to beat you today, just shut up!"

i didn't know what to make of it, didn't know if it was kidding or not but he sounded a little mad.

he went away and the call went on.. but about 15 minutes later i kept having a gut feeling something wasn't right. i told my mentors over a chat so the whole call center didn't hear and they didn't believe me. they plugged in and listened to my phone call. about a minute after they were listening you could hear something whipping and hitting something really hard. i heard the little boy screaming and he was whipped about 10 times. the lady i was speaking with was just laughing and was doing nothing.

after that nothing else really happened that i heard. my mentor and sup discussed calling the police but they don't know if it is against privacy policy to take our recorded phone calls to do that.

is that even possible and fair? i'm thinking even if its against company policy that i should call and report it with the phone number and name that we have risking getting fired. this little boys life would be greater to me than my job.

what do you think? for all i know though, it could be a fake name and number but this little boy was being beaten more than just a slap.

[BenRaines]

Police departments get anonymous calls all the time to "Check the welfare" of someone. If you are concerned take the information and call from a pay phone and make it an anonymous call.

Ben Raines

[Dr T]

Agreed. You are concerned for a reason. Just call with the address and what you heard. They can investigate.

[Rosewood]

Follow your insticts. It was earlier and here you are still worried! It could be nothing, but only you know. How old did the little boy sound? Have you prayed about it?

I think you could call the police or authorities without getting your company involved. If it was nothing, no harm done. Maybe a warning is enough to prevent a problem.

My grandchildren had tantrums and anyone listening would have thought they were being killed, although, no one laughed when it was going on.

My parents had the police called about me when I was around 3 because I didn't want to get out of the bathtub. Mom made the police get me out so they could see what was going on. I don't remember of course.

I still think better safe than sorry.

[thatonegirl]

so i don't have the information like i thought. all i know is what i did on her computer, her first name and the first digit of her area code.

i could go through and find every single person with this very common name with that first digit of 6 that has ever called McAfee, but i don't even know if its possible with our program.

i really don't know what to do now. from the looks of my work they won't be calling. i fasted for this kid and now i can't sleep because i think of him too much. it keeps going over and over in my head. it won't get out and i feel responsible for losing all this i could have had to save a childs life or make it better.

[Gwen]

take what little info you have, search it if you need to, but call the local (for the number if you know it) police. it may be a family that has gotten calls on them before, they may know exactly who they are. and if they don't at least in your heart you know you did all you could. trust your gut. if you can't find the info or can't do anything you did the best you could. pray for the child, for someone to find him if he needs it and use this experiance to give you streangth and courage if there is a next time you ever find yourself in such a situation, as much as i hope you don't. also remember after all you can do if you still worry you can ask the lord to guide you to what needs doing that hasn't been done or to comfort your heart if you have.

[Rosewood]

Ok, it's now the next day. I'm guessing you've done all you can at this point including some very sincere prayer. I want only to say this; let not your heart be troubled. It's in God's hands. Allow Him to calm your fear. Go over in your mind what you learned and thank Him for the growth. Let it go. God bless your tender heart.

[StrawberryFields]

Ok, it's now the next day. I'm guessing you've done all you can at this point including some very sincere prayer. I want only to say this; let not your heart be troubled. It's in God's hands. Allow Him to calm your fear. Go over in your mind what you learned and thank Him for the growth. Let it go. God bless your tender heart.

Very well said Rosewood people like you and Almom make LDS Talk a nice place to me.

The guys here are okay too :)

[chulita13]

thatonegirl -

I happened to be checking out these forums and I joined specifically so that I could post to you...

I am a social worker and I happen to know that there are laws in every state that your company is MANDITORILY REQUIRED to report this abuse to the proper authorities. They have to report it or can be held criminally liable. That means that you cannot lose your job for doing it either. There is NO privacy rights when it comes to child abuse, or any other abuse for that matter. even Doctors and therapists are required to report it if they have a knowledge of child abuse occurring and dr/patient confidentiality does NOT apply. You need to let them know that they need to report this and provide the recordings so that this child can be checked on. There may not be another opportunity for this child.... please feel free to ask if you have any questions.