WJC backs bill on clergy reporting of child abuse

The board of directors of the Wisconsin Jewish Conference on Sunday unanimously recommended passage of legislation on Clergy Reporting of Suspected Child Abuse.

This bill if enacted “would bring in clergy as one of the professions that would be mandated to report suspected child abuse,” said Michael Blumenfeld, WJC director, in a telephone interview Monday.

It also “makes religious institutions like synagogues liable in situations where some suspected abuse of a child is going on,” Blumenfeld continued.

Blumenfeld said the WJC had been working closely with the sponsoring legislators — particularly Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Rep. Peggy Krusick (D-Milwaukee) — through ten drafts of the bill before the 11th and final version was introduced in the state senate on July 2 and in the state assembly on July 7.

Many of the state’s smaller Jewish communities had been concerned about provisions that would have allowed victims to sue a religious institution any of whose employees “knew or should have known” about a possible child abuse. “Small congregations said even the threat of a lawsuit could put them out of business; they’re just hanging on financially,” Blumenfeld said.

The final draft meets this concern by stating that a victim could sue a religious institution only if employees “in a supervisory role knew or should have known about the abuse and didn’t do anything,” Blumenfeld said.

Blumenfeld said a hearing on the bill is likely to be held “in the next couple of months.”
Meanwhile, the WJC board members who attended, representing seven of the about 16 member communities, instructed Blumenfeld to develop a handbook for synagogues on how to comply with this law should it be passed and signed by Gov. Jim Doyle.

In other news, Blumenfeld reported to the WJC board that WJC representatives on July 1 had their first meeting with Matthew Frank, the new secretary of the state Department of Corrections.

For more than a year, the WJC and Wisconsin Council of Rabbis have been concerned about DOC rules that have interfered with the ability of Jewish prisoners to obtain kosher food and observe the Sabbath and Passover. Blumenfeld said the meeting with Frank was “positive” and that he “pledged to work closely with us.”

The Wisconsin Jewish Conference is one of the programs and services of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. It links state Jewish communities; engages in coalition building, education and outreach; and monitors state legislative and lobbying activities.