Pass bill that respects religious practices and protects children

Once again members of the state Legislature are faced with a dilemma: how to protect children from abuse and neglect yet respect the sacrament of certain religious faiths.

Last year, a bill sponsored by state Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, that would have made clergy members mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect, failed to get enough support. This year, Frame is back along with other lawmakers whose goal is to protect children, with Senate Bill 6298. 

Frame’s new bill would make licensed clergy mandated reporters, but includes an exemption for when that knowledge of abuse is learned during private religious confessions, a major tenet in the Catholic faith. However, the bill carves out an exception to that exemption. Clergy would “have a duty to warn” law enforcement or social services if there is reasonable belief that a child is in imminent danger of abuse or neglect, even if that belief is informed by information obtained “in part as a result of a penitential communication,” but corroborated with information obtained outside of confession.

Though The Times editorial board supported last year’s bill that offered no such exemption, SB 6298 is a reasonable compromise that respects the religious beliefs and practices of clergy members while protecting the health and safety of children. The Washington State Catholic Conference also supports the bill with the exemption.

Child abuse and neglect can have devastating effects on survivors, even into adulthood. 

For decades parents have drilled into their children the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching, and to report situations where they may feel uncomfortable. Oftentimes conflicts arise when the abuser is the parent, teacher or coach or any other trusted adult, such as a clergy member.

“Kids need to know that if they ask a trusted adult like a faith leader for help, they’ll get help,” said Frame, herself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. “Mandatory reporters play an essential role in protecting children, and extending this responsibility to the clergy who are so important in our lives as mentors and community leaders is the right thing to do.”

Pastors, preachers and priests, who say they value the life of a child, indeed have a responsibility to practice what they preach. That’s a choice for each clergyperson to make.

State lawmakers have a choice to make, too. A vote for SB 6298 is a vote for the safety and welfare of Washington’s children.