An Ethical Dilemma

Long before I went to work at the hospital, I worked at a YMCA after school care center. I worked with kids from K-5. I worked under an older lady who was our program director. She was with us on site most of the time. At first we all got along well. There was also another girl my age working with us. It was a really fun job. The lady I worked for had a 4-year-old daughter, and sometimes she would bring her to the center. She was a beautiful little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

After working there for a while I noticed that my director would act negatively to one child in particular. He was a pretty big behavior problem, and I thought that was the reason she was so hard on him. As time went by I got to know her better and she started to tell me more about herself. One day she was showing me her tattoos. I noticed a swastika tattooed on her upper arm. She pointed out a tattoo with her daughter’s name across a German cross. After that I paid more attention to how she treated that little African American boy I mentioned before. It really started to become apparent that she went out of her way to pick on him.

I wasn’t sure how to respond. I didn’t want to bring this information to her superiors without reason. I was worried that she would get angry and possibly accuse me of false things. She was, after all, my supervisor. I didn’t want to interfere with her livelihood or her family’s wellbeing either. I decided to discuss it with my other coworker, who was there when I saw the tattoos. We decided to pay careful attention to how she treated all the kids.

One day she brought her daughter to work with her. Her daughter immediately latched on to that same little boy black boy. My coworker and I watched as she grabbed her daughter and yanked her over to a far corner of the room. She started yelling at her in a loud, hissing whisper, “You don’t play with him, you understand me? Don’t go anywhere near him. You don’t let him touch you. “ We were both shocked. We didn’t really know how to react. We let the day go on as though nothing happened. Later that day, during the kids’ naptime, the boy was moving around and didn’t want to go to sleep. He kept trying to talk to her daughter. My supervisor got up and yanked his sleeping bag he was sitting on so hard, the boy bumped his head on her desk. She yelled at him, “You shut up, I don’t want to hear another word out of you!” Now I knew we had to tell somebody about this.

I felt his mother should know, but I didn’t want to cause a scandal. I talked to my coworker; we agreed to call her supervisor. He came down along with 3 other administrators immediately. He had our supervisor and my coworker take all the kids outside. He interviewed me while recording my conversation. I told him everything. I went outside, and I told my coworker he needed to talk to her privately. She went in. It was painfully apparent how suspicious my supervisor. She wanted me to tell her what was going on. I said, “He wants to talk to each of us individually. He asked me not to talk about it with anyone until he’s finished his investigation.” I really felt scared at that moment. I had a sick feeling in my stomach, thinking about the impact that this might have on her future, and on her family. More importantly I was thinking about that little boy, and all the children that this woman was responsible for caring for. There was no way I could stay quiet and let her continue to abuse her position of authority over children.

Finally, my coworker came out, and my supervisor went in. Within 20 minutes, she left the building with 2 of the administrators following her. She didn’t look at us. She had her head down. Then the man who interviewed had us come in. 2 other staff members came out to watch the kids. He told us that she would no longer be working with us and effective immediately one of the guys who had come with him was given her position. He thanked us for coming forward and left. We were stunned.

In this situation the action I took was, I believe, morally required. The clear ethical obligation here was to report child abuse. While disturbing, the idea that she was a racist was not enough to make me act. As much as I abhor racism, she was entitled to her own opinions, and her tattoos. Once her behavior became abusive though, I had no choice. State law mandates me to report child abuse. I am entirely comfortable with my decision, and I am not able to think of an objection to my action that would remain within the code of ethics.