Stupid Government Tricks, #321687952

[austin_tycho]

So I get a call on the abuse line from the WIC office (WIC- gives those coupons to pregnant women to buy eggs and milk and whatall). A 15 year old in Brownsville is pregnant. This is a highly Hispanic area of the state, and a pregnant 15 year old is, to be blunt, nothing unusual. But they are required to report all pregnant girls under 17 years old to the abuse hotline. Well, OK- so who's the father? Her teacher, her brother, her mom's boyfriend? This would make it a case for us. WIC worker's reply: "I don't know. We're not allowed to ask questions about that."

I go to a supervisor who confirms that, yes indeed, the WIC offices are required to call us, but they can't get the information we need to make an investigation. So we take the call, and are required to ask the question that they are not allowed to find the answer to. We record this, give them a verification number that they've called, then hang up and basically delete the case. *roll eyes*

Comments

[theshadowsouled.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's how it works.

A good system, overall. It protects them, they provided the information, and also keeps them from having to not be able to do their job, due to the fact that noone will come in *knowing* that it would cause legal issues.

Did you know that the age of consent in Mexico is 12?

Also, you don't actually have to do any verification of pregnancy to get WIC service. All you have to do is tell them you're pregnant. If you don't want to get medical help/verification, they can't require it. In fact, legally, they would have to give a male all the help they would give a pregnant female, if he came up and asked for help and presented himself as pregnant. Because they can't use any medical information against the person, and sex is medical information.

[mielikki.livejournal.com]

The fact that she's pregnant in and of itself is meaningless unless she is under 12 years old (probably not a coincidence). We only care about sexual contact (pregnant or not) by any caretakers or relatives. This is why I wonder why they are required to report pregnancies under 17 years old when 9 times out of ten we're not going to do anything about it- and probably more like ten times out of ten, if wthey can't ask who the father is.