[Howdy]

My daughter found out that her bsister let her bmom babysit (though she made her promise that bdad would not be anywhere around during the babysitting) and bmom gave the baby to bdad (child molester) and left the house.
My daughter is upset and is thinking she should call the police. Shouldn't the bsister (the baby's mother) be the one to call the police? If she doesn't want to call, is it okay (does she have to report it)? The bsister is not allowing the bmom to babysit anymore (is refusing to speak to her at all) and is planning to move away to a different city.

[jcm]

Is this man a convicted sex offender? Than absolutely, 100% YES, REPORT IT.

Think about it, if it was your kid, left with a sex offender, no matter what happened, would you want him alone with your child??? EVER?

Better safe than sorry.

[Perfect7]

I agree with JCM, it definately needs to be reported! If this man is a convicted sex offender he most likely has been ordered to stay away from children. He needs to be back behind bars so that he cannot be again! Her moving away wont prevent him from hurting another child.

[waited2long]

Report it... She can probably do it anonymously, but she needs to report it.

[DianeS]

Now that you've read all the opinions that it should be reported, I'll chime in and say that ALL people who have heard about this should report it.

Yes, ideally the baby's mother will report it. She's the one the police are most likely to listen to. BUT - we can't control other people's actions. We can't *force* her to report it. And unless we stand right beside her, dial the phone for her, and listen on an extension while she reports it, we also can't ever be sure that she actually did report it. It's NOT OK for her to stay silent about it, but we all know that she might do that anyway.

That said, since you know about this and can't know whether it has already been reported, you should report it. This isn't about getting the baby's mother in trouble, this is about making sure the baby gets checked out for any signs of physical sexual abuse, and making sure the proper penalties are applied to the abuser.

I'm remembering your daughter is fairly young... if that's true then you could call on her behalf. If it's important to her to call on her own that's fine, just be sure you follow up on her call or make one yourself so that a call from a child isn't disregarded. (If I'm misremembered, and your daughter is an older teen or an adult, then she can and should certainly call on her own.)

Just avoid the possibility of the abuser getting away with being with a child simply because nobody wants to report a family member or nobody wants to get in trouble themselves. Make sure at least one person calls, even if it's you.

I'm sorry to hear about the whole mess.

[mypov]

Depending on your state law, it could be a crime for you NOT to report suspected child abuse/neglect. The state I am in is a state where every adult over 18 is a mandated reported and if it is found that you knew and did not reported you could be fined or even serve jail time. Though I currently am working in a guardian ad litem's office I have only actually heard of jail time for women who knew their spouses were abusing children- still- I would report it. You can remain anonymous and all you have to do is report what limited info you might have. Child/family services will follow up after that and you can know that you dotted your i's rather than closing your eyes