Foxborough Home Rule Petition on Reporting Child Sex Abuse Called Game Changer

Foxborough’s efforts to widen a state law that designates who is a mandated reporter of child sexual abuse could be a game changer, according to the town’s state representative.

State Rep. Jay Barrows told the selectmen this week that the legal counsel for the Massachusetts House of Representatives has looked at the petition, came back with some suggestions, and would like to meet with the town’s sexual abuse committee and town counsel to discuss how to move forward according to the Sun Chronicle.

As written, all school employees, town employees, anyone who works with children in Foxborough, and anyone who has contact with children would become mandated reporters.

Barrows also discussed introducing a bill to expand the definition state-wide.

The petition and committee were part of the response to the William Sheehan scandal, a former Foxborough teacher, coach, and scout leader who was found to have abused children in the 1960s and 1970s.