DUTY OF CARE
Duty of Care is part of the common or civil law action of negligence.
If someone believes they’ve suffered injury or damage because of your negligence, then they can sue you in court and make a claim for monetary damages or compensation.
Injury or damage can include:
- damage to property
- loss of income
- physical, mental, psychological or emotional injury
Whether you are a mandated reporter or not, there is a much wider serious legal issue you need to consider – and that’s Duty of Care.
This legal requirement is part of the common law action of “negligence” where people can take civil court action to obtain monetary damages as compensation for injury or damage caused by others.
The court may order that a person who was negligent must pay financial compensation or damages to the person who suffered the injury or damage.
In a negligence case, the main issue examined is duty of care. The court will decide whether you owed a duty of care to the person suing you, whether you breached that duty of care, and whether your negligence caused the injury or damage. The important thing for you to know is that injury or damage can include physical, mental, psychological or emotional injury or damage - which as we know can be caused by child abuse. But it can also be caused by a failure to protect against child abuse.
