ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 12, 1997 TAG: 9701130109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BERLIN, CONN.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Susan Leventhal wants to know who's got it in for her.
Five times, anonymous callers to a state child-abuse hot line have accused her of such things as beating her kids, starving them, using drugs in front of them and leaving them home alone. Five times, caseworkers were sent to investigate. And five times, Leventhal was exonerated.
Now, the single mother of four and part-time waitress is fighting back: She is demanding the names of her accusers.
And to get their names, she has brought a lawsuit challenging a Connecticut law, similar to ones in other states, that lets people make anonymous complaints to child-abuse hot lines.
``I'm hurt. Every family has their issues, but I'm not beating them with hangers or starving them,'' Leventhal, 35, said last week at her home in this Hartford suburb. ``The only thing I haven't been accused of is sexually molesting them. Can you imagine how humiliating this is?''
While acknowledging the complaints against Leventhal were not substantiated, state officials defend the law.
``Anonymous reporting is a lifeline for thousands of children whose cases might go unreported otherwise,'' said David Dearborn, spokesman for the Department of Children and Families, the agency being sued. ``People who report abuse to us don't have to be sure that it's happening. It's suspected abuse. It's our job to verify whether it's happening.''
The accusations against Leventhal were so grave that they could not be ignored, Dearborn said.
The Connecticut case is being closely watched.
In 1994, state agencies across the country received an estimated 2 million reports of abuse against 2.9 million children, according to the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information. About 10 percent were from anonymous or unknown sources. The agency keeps no figures on how many calls were unsubstantiated.
``The system is out of control when someone is making all these false reports and a person can't find out who is doing this,'' said Paul Chill, a University of Connecticut law professor writing a book on state juvenile laws. ``When someone makes a report in bad faith, then I don't think the reporter should be cloaked in confidentiality.''
In most states, people such as teachers, doctors or police officers are required to give their names when bringing abuse complaints. Under the law in Connecticut and other states, however, members of the general public can ask for confidentiality.
The state's child welfare agency investigated 24,658 reports of abuse involving 38,701 children in the last budget year. About 70 percent of the reports were substantiated. In other states, the rate is much lower.
Connecticut has already moved to adopt safeguards. A law that went into effect in October makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine to make a false and malicious report of child abuse, whether by hot line or other means. The law was aimed at the vindictive use of child abuse accusations in custody disputes.
But the law does not apply in Leventhal's case because the calls were made before it went into effect.
Leventhal instead cites her constitutional right to face her accusers. And if she gets the names, she plans to press harassment charges.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Susan Leventhal poses with her four children atby CNBtheir home in Berlin, Conn. She's been accused of abusing them.