Tarah Kayne details abuse allegations against sanctioned coach Sappenfield

[kwanfan1818]

It's not hard to figure out who the appropriate targets are, and it's not currently competing athletes, it's Delilah, USFSA, and other people in positions of power at World Arena and USOPC. If you can't get access to the people who should take responsibility, that doesn't mean you get to force responsibility onto those who have no responsibility.

And look at the Nasser case: he's in jail, but what about the people at the University of Michigan Michigan State* who enabled him and continue to push back against victims even after he was jailed? What about the other adults in the room? What about the Trustees? What about the FBI agents who either were so incompetent or were toeing the line to higher-ups' agendas and whom the FBI refuses to take action against? What about most of USA Gymnastics, which was never de-certified?

It's amazing that anyone would speak out, because, when the dust settles, maybe a Sappenfeld will take a fall, and maybe not, but the rest will be standing, and they will continue to control your career.

*Thank you, @Coco, for pointing out my mistake.

 

[misskarne]

I would suggest another reason Brennan asked Knierim about this was because let's face it: Alexa has stuck her foot in her mouth about this sort of thing before. IIRC she was pretty strident defending Coughlin and made some, at best, poorly-worded remarks about that situation and she certainly wasn't uncomfortable with those hats.

If a skater has said some shonky things previously, AND has that connection, the bigger shock would be if Brennan DIDN'T ask. If USFS were dumb enough not to realise it would be asked - if Alexa was dumb enough not to realise it would be asked - that's on them.

 

[Tavi]

The question was about her status, not about whether she had filed a report. The proper response would be either yes or no, but inasmuch as she apparently is a mandatory reporter, she should have said yes. She could have added that she wasn't going to answer questions about whether she made any mandated reports, but she chose not to. You are putting words in her mouth.

Actually, it was a compound question: (1) are you a mandatory reporter; and (2) have you spoken with SafeSport about Sappenfield. You’re making an assumption but actually don’t know which part of the question was being answered, making it useless as evidence.

 

[Vagabond]

Actually, it was a compound question: (1) are you a mandatory reporter; and (2) have you spoken with SafeSport about Sappenfield. You’re making an assumption but actually don’t know which part of the question was being answered, making it useless as evidence.

Brennan should have known better than to squeeze two questions into one sound bite, especially since the second was not something to which she should have expected an answer. Knierim, for her part should have answered the first question directly and left it at that.

Neither one comes across very well.

 

[MacMadame]

Skating isn't as mainstream in the US. Skate America teleconferences usually last all of 10 or 15 minutes and consist of Lynn Rutherford asking how training is going.

You say that like it's either a good thing or can't be changed.

 

[Tavi]

Brennan should have known better than to squeeze two questions into one sound bite, especially since the second was not something to which she should have expected an answer. Knierim, for her part should have answered the first question directly and left it at that.

Neither one comes across very well.

Given that USFS undoubtedly didn’t prepare Alexa to answer this question - if at all - like a good lawyer would have prepared her for deposition or trial, I personally am willing to cut her a little slack on the quality of her answer.

 

[nlloyd]

I was wondering about this, though. Not to excuse these coaches if they did see something and not report it, but how would they know e.g. if Sappenfield had ordered Kayne not to speak during training? All they might notice is Tarah being quiet and listening to the instructions that the team were being given. And from Brennan's story it sounded like a lot of the other bad behaviour from Sappenfield, like quizzing Kayne about her love life, took place off the ice or on the phone. Ice rinks are gossipy places, for sure, but Sappenfield might have been really good at hiding or toning down her abuse when other coaches were around.

It doesn't sound like e.g. when Richard Callaghan yelled at skaters that they were fat, slow, or stupid, and did it loudly enough that the entire rink could hear.

I agree with this to some extent, but my sense of Sappenfield is that she is does not have good interpersonal boundaries. (Commenting on skaters' relationships is just one example of that boundaryless.) It thus seems likely to me that she said things in front of others that would normally be said in private. For that reason, I hope Brennan interviews other coaches or parents at the rink. Her best possibility of getting interviews might be with individuals who have left skating and have little to lose by talking to her.

On a related note: it would be good if coaches had to take courses in teaching methods, appropriate student-coach behavior, professionalism etc. of the kind school teachers do as part of their training. Does USFSA or Skate Canada have any such offerings and if so, are they mandatory? Raising the level of professionalism among coaches might be one way to start ameliorating figure skating culture.

 

[newbatgirl]

One of the problems is that the group of reporters who cover skating regularly is so small these days that I don’t think anyone, neither the athletes nor the USFS comms people, are really tested on how to deal with real press scrutiny until it’s a horrible situation like this one. And then it’s too late to learn. The same could be said for quite a few Oly sports today.

Just my two cents as a communications manager.

 

[overedge]

@nlloyd I'm pretty sure that the national coaching certification program in Canada, which coaches have to take to teach Skate Canada programs, has content on appropriate coach-student behavior, harassment/abuse, and so on.

But as long as high profile coaches that are supported by their federations are abusive and get away with it, education isn't going to change the culture on its own. IMHO meaningful enforcement is the biggest missing part of the equation.

 

[overedge]

One of the problems is that the group of reporters who cover skating regularly is so small these days that I don’t think anyone, neither the athletes nor the USFS comms people, are really tested on how to deal with real press scrutiny until it’s a horrible situation like this one. And then it’s too late to learn. The same could be said for quite a few Oly sports today.

Just my two cents as a communications manager.

I think it's a problem with sports reporting in general. Too many reporters want to stay chummy with the teams and the players, so they ask harmless questions and write rah-rah stories. Critical stories like this are far too rare: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...ing-driving-mental-health-crisis?platform=amp

 

[made_in_canada]

@nlloyd I'm pretty sure that the national coaching certification program in Canada, which coaches have to take to teach Skate Canada programs, has content on appropriate coach-student behavior, harassment/abuse, and so on.

They definitely do. I had to take that module to even just be a parent helper at my four year old’s soccer.

 

[maatTheViking]

@nlloyd I'm pretty sure that the national coaching certification program in Canada, which coaches have to take to teach Skate Canada programs, has content on appropriate coach-student behavior, harassment/abuse, and so on.

But as long as high profile coaches that are supported by their federations are abusive and get away with it, education isn't going to change the culture on its own. IMHO meaningful enforcement is the biggest missing part of the equation.

The question is always the effectiveness and quality of such things.

I have a friend who is a teacher in university, and the mandatory trainings they have to take on things like harassment (or IT security) are, it seems, not useful. They also did some teaching in High School, and it seemed the mandatory reporter training at least was pretty decent in laying out what was the requirement of reporting.

If someone either knowing abuses or are unknowingly abusers (but not wanting to change because 'this is the way it's done' etc), is this sort of training effective?

I've had various cooperate training, and in general the 'cover our butt' training is useless, but training that is more subtle and generally require a little more of the participant and assumes that you want to become more educated on a subject is more useful. (we had some courses on Covering which I found tremendously interesting, and was not aimed at 'not getting sued' but 'making the work place better by employees improving themselves').

edit: I guess this sort of thing is in the line of 'you can lead a horse to the water...'

I 100% agree meaningful enforcement is the missing part.

 

[CaliSteve]

Brennan said on Twitter that at least 11 other skaters have talked to SafeSport about Sappenfield.

Yet she is still coaching....

 

[Willin]

I agree with this to some extent, but my sense of Sappenfield is that she is does not have good interpersonal boundaries. (Commenting on skaters' relationships is just one example of that boundaryless.) It thus seems likely to me that she said things in front of others that would normally be said in private. For that reason, I hope Brennan interviews other coaches or parents at the rink. Her best possibility of getting interviews might be with individuals who have left skating and have little to lose by talking to her.

On a related note: it would be good if coaches had to take courses in teaching methods, appropriate student-coach behavior, professionalism etc. of the kind school teachers do as part of their training. Does USFSA or Skate Canada have any such offerings and if so, are they mandatory? Raising the level of professionalism among coaches might be one way to start ameliorating figure skating culture.

Yes, to coach with USFS (at competitions) you must be PSA certified. PSA certification requires CEUs about concussions, but since the advent of SafeSport now also requires stuff about mandated reporting and sexual harassment.

One of the problems is that the group of reporters who cover skating regularly is so small these days that I don’t think anyone, neither the athletes nor the USFS comms people, are really tested on how to deal with real press scrutiny until it’s a horrible situation like this one. And then it’s too late to learn. The same could be said for quite a few Oly sports today.

Just my two cents as a communications manager.

Yeah, as I said in an earlier post here, people are really infantilizing skaters - probably because hardball questions aren't common in skating. In other sports athletes get asked about hard stuff all the time.

Right now multiple NBA players are getting positively roasted in every media availability about being anti-vax (and one of those players had been roasted in the past for being a flat earther). Players and teammates get asked about criminal charges and accusations any time there is one. In the past I've even heard similar questions asked about sexual misconduct and abuse during press conferences. Even in the NCAA, players at schools like Penn State, Baylor, OSU, LSU, and Mchigan have been asked questions about those schools' respective abuse scandals. In the Nassar case MSU athletes and coaches from the football and basketball program were asked about their thoughts by ESPN - even though Nassar didn't get near those athletes or coaches. Simone Biles was obviously uncomfortable about some Nassar-related questions and yet they got asked of her everywhere she went in Tokyo.

Of course, most of these players and teams have good media coaching and can craft a good answer or at least a "no comment." So maybe we should be infantilizing skaters with easy questions until they get better media training.

 

[overedge]

@Willin I agree with almost all of this, except that it's not the media's job to go soft on their questions for athletes if a sports organization can't be bothered to have competent people doing its PR/communications.

 

[stjeaskategym]

I have more understanding now why Naomi Osaka doesn't want to talk to reporters. Even if you say, "I don't wish to comment on that", it can still be interpreted as something bad. I'm guessing this is why Alexa's responses were a bit more wordy and not just an abrupt "no comment".

Interviews are hard enough--- now add the peanut gallery who will dissect your every word and say you didn't answer the questions perfectly enough. Then add difficult and sensitive questions about abuse where there is no one answer that will satisfy everyone. Then add Christine Brennan who is definitely not on your side and insinuates that you were a mandatory reporter at a rink you never coached at and won't even take your "um's" out of the interview transcript.

It's completely unrealistic to expect current skaters to take some bold stance on abuse and to speak freely about it. Simone Biles did it because she practically runs USAG herself and has zero fear of repercussion. But no other athletes have that luxury. And it isn't Alexa's responsibility to say any more than she did. She supports and feels for Tarah. Her experience wasn't the same as Tarah's, so there's nothing she could add to that story. And any possible convos with SafeSport are a private matter. What else did she need to say? She did just about as well as she could answering stressful questions.

Some of the cold and callous remarks about how we're treating skaters like infants- no, we're treating skaters like human beings. Not everyone realizes how painful and difficult it can be to discuss abuse in a private setting, never mind in front of the world. If a skater never wants to speak publicly about abuse, that's totally fine. There are good reasons why SafeSport keeps things private. Also, skaters aren't professional ballplayers, they speak to the media a few times per year (and most of it is low-key). Skaters are having to answer questions that should be posed towards coaches/the organization. Alexa is usually very well-spoken and sure of herself in interviews, but these were not easy questions and she was understandably uncomfortable having to answer them.

I just want to point out that Alexa being a coach is not something you have to look very far to discover/learn on the internet. I follow her on IG and can see that she also coaches just from her own posts and stories. It isn't as though Brennan would have needed to do much to 1) know that she is coaching, and 2) verify what her current title is at GPI. Stop acting like Brennan has committed some unpardonable sin in her questioning of Alexa with regard to Sappenfield or any additional allegations.

What does Alexa's coaching at GPI in California have to do with Tarah getting abused by Sappenfield in Colorado. It's irrelevant to the story, unless you're trying to get readers to believe that Alexa also coached in CO and was in a position of power AKA a mandatory reporter of abuse. That's what if felt like Brennan was trying to do- tie Alexa into Tarah's story somehow when Alexa gave her no info.

Nearly every coach on the GPI website is listed as a "Senior Instructor", and by using those words in her tweet, Brennan made it sound more likely that Alexa was in a position of power as a coach alongside Dalilah (which she obviously wasn't). She didn't even mention Alexa is a current skater. Any non-skating fans probably thought Brennan was talking about a coach.

I think Brennan's reference to Alexa being a GPI coach in her tweet also led to some of the confusion as to why Alexa didn't answer whether she is currently a mandatory reporter. It's because Alexa was never asked about her current situation (why would she be, it has no relevance to the story). She was being asked about the situation with Dalilah, and so that's what she answered, by basically saying she wished to keep the private matter private.

I would suggest another reason Brennan asked Knierim about this was because let's face it: Alexa has stuck her foot in her mouth about this sort of thing before. IIRC she was pretty strident defending Coughlin and made some, at best, poorly-worded remarks about that situation and she certainly wasn't uncomfortable with those hats.

Alexa didn't wear a red hat. On Jan 18, 2019, Alexa, like the majority of the skating community, expressed distress and devastation over John Coughlin's sudden suicide. There were loving posts from many skaters on Jan 19 who were convinced he was a really great guy (abusers are experts at doing this). Sappenfield had been talking to John on the phone every day and was telling everyone that John had been falsely accused by someone who wanted his TV commentary job, and she was extremely convinced his name would be cleared. She also claimed his suicide was the result of people spreading vicious rumors about him on social media. SafeSport didn't help matters by vaguely listing the reason for John's suspension as general "misconduct", which led some people to wonder if maybe this was some minor incident that didn't necessary mean John was a terrible person. Hence, many supportive posts from skaters upset about his suicide.

On Jan 20 at 3PM, the story broke about Coughlin having 3 sexual abuse victims. Alexa hasn't made a single comment about John ever since, never mind support his abuse. The red hats were worn on Jan 24- only Sappenfield's current teams and 1 other female skater wore them, it wasn't Alexa. Alexa's only notable reaction afterward was the heart she posted on the Instagram of Ashley Wagner who eventually came forward with her own story of abuse. These are the facts.

Is Alexa is entitled to her PC, make no waves answer? Sure. Personally though, I'm glad that Christine is going out and doing actual reporting on this issue and questioning those who may have observed or witnessed that abuse, and those who may be the perpetrators.

Is she though? There are dozens & dozens of people who are more pertinent to Tarah's story than Alexa, who again, never trained with Tarah. Insinuating that Alexa was a mandatory reporter in that situation instead of interviewing the actual mandatory reporters who worked at that rink is an odd approach to "reporting on this issue". I'm not saying don't ask Alexa questions at all, but it felt like an attempt to drag someone who wasn't involved in Tarah's story into the story.

Brennan should have known better than to squeeze two questions into one sound bite, especially since the second was not something to which she should have expected an answer. Knierim, for her part should have answered the first question directly and left it at that.

Neither one comes across very well.

There's absolutely nothing wrong or odd about only answering the most recent question you're asked. This happens very often at press conferences. Sometimes the athlete will ask the reporter to repeat the first question because they can't even remember what was asked. And sometimes the reporter will repeat the first question once they realize the athlete only answered the second part. Brennan could have asked the first part again if she really wanted an answer. As soon as Brennan mentioned Sappenfield in the sentence, it was likely Alexa's response was going to be something like "no comment".

 

[Coco]

@Willin and everyone, please don't confuse Michigan State (green/white, Spartans, Nassar) with Michigan (maize / blue, Wolverines, scandal with long deceased football Dr. Anderson that did not get much attention).

And I thought should point out that Simone Biles' boyfriend plays with DeShaun Watson on the Houston Texans. Watson is currently suspended as he has been sued by 24 massage therapists for sexual harassment / sexual assault. Given how outspoken she has been about Nasser / USAG, it is strange that she wasn't asked about this situation. Now, she may have never even met DeShaun. She probably really doesn't have anything to add to this. But reporters being reporters, it's surprising no one has asked her about this at a press conference. I wonder if they have been told this topic is off limits behind the scenes.

 

[Tavi]

Yes, to coach with USFS (at competitions) you must be PSA certified. PSA certification requires CEUs about concussions, but since the advent of SafeSport now also requires stuff about mandated reporting and sexual harassment.


Yeah, as I said in an earlier post here, people are really infantilizing skaters - probably because hardball questions aren't common in skating. In other sports athletes get asked about hard stuff all the time.

Right now multiple NBA players are getting positively roasted in every media availability about being anti-vax (and one of those players had been roasted in the past for being a flat earther). Players and teammates get asked about criminal charges and accusations any time there is one. In the past I've even heard similar questions asked about sexual misconduct and abuse during press conferences. Even in the NCAA, players at schools like Penn State, Baylor, OSU, LSU, and Mchigan have been asked questions about those schools' respective abuse scandals. In the Nassar case MSU athletes and coaches from the football and basketball program were asked about their thoughts by ESPN - even though Nassar didn't get near those athletes or coaches. Simone Biles was obviously uncomfortable about some Nassar-related questions and yet they got asked of her everywhere she went in Tokyo.

Of course, most of these players and teams have good media coaching and can craft a good answer or at least a "no comment." So maybe we should be infantilizing skaters with easy questions until they get better media training.

I’m curious as to how you think people are “infantalizing” Alexa in this thread? Because I frankly don’t think most people are, nor do I think her situation is at all comparable to those you mention above.

Professional athletes, top athletes at major schools, and star athletes like Simone Biles, are generally used to taking extensive questions at post game press conferences and in many cases, to being regularly interviewed. Many are either making huge salaries (meaning they can afford guidance from top level lawyers and PR firms) or they have access to resources because they play for powerful, well-funded schools/organizations. That’s quite different to the experience of USFS athletes, most of whom have pretty limited experience answering press conference / media zone questions, which are generally limited to their performance, training, injuries, and so forth.

Beyond that, I don’t think being criticized for your anti-vax stance or even being asked about abuse you may have witnessed or personally experienced - however painful - is quite the same as Brennan aggressively playing a game of “gotcha” with Alexa in order to get a juicy quote from her. The reason lawyers spend so much time preparing their clients to testify in adversarial situations - which this clearly was - is because answering tough/tricky questions under pressure is a skill that doesn’t come naturally to most people. That’s true no matter how easily you can anticipate the question. In this case, though, I’m not even sure how much the particular questions she was asked here - or the adversarial tone Brennan took - could have reasonably been anticipated.

 

[Vagabond]

What does Alexa's coaching at GPI in California have to do with Tarah getting abused by Sappenfield in Colorado.

As has been explained upthread, anyone who coaches a sport within SafeSport's jurisdiction anywhere in the U.S. is a mandatory reporter to SafeSport, and the mandate may extend (and probably does) to reporting historic abuse, even if the mandatory reporter wasn't a mandatory reporter or witness at the time in question.

 

[PRlady]

I'll tell you what, I'm retiring after 40 years in issues management and strategic communication this coming spring. If they're interested I will VOLUNTEER media trainings for skaters -- not through USFS, which will feel threatened (as would I were I their Comms dir) but in some sort of informal Zoom format. Anyone who has ideas how to organize this, with more direct knowledge of the community, can PM me sometime this winter.....

I agree that they are generally unprepared for scandal or crisis, they know how to say "I just want to skate my best" and other canned lines but when the rubber hits the road, they're not getting the help they need.

It won't fix the abuse problem and I would never suggest that skaters hide what they know, but there are times and places for dealing with the media and that requires some understanding and preparation.

 

[Tavi]

As has been explained upthread, anyone who coaches a sport within SafeSport's jurisdiction anywhere in the U.S. is a mandatory reporter to SafeSport, and the mandate may extend (and probably does) to reporting historic abuse, even if the mandatory reporter wasn't a mandatory reporter or witness at the time in question.

What bothers me is that Brennan’s questions about Alexa’s coaching status were not the most relevant questions she could have asked, and in fact they seemed more like a stunt to raise her own profile than an honest attempt to further reporting on this issue.

In her recent TSL appearance, Brennan encouraged people to contact her, made quite a show of how caring, understanding, and trustworthy she is, emphasized that they - like Tarah Kayne - would be able to share their stories off the record unless and until they felt comfortable making a public statement, and so forth. There was none of that here.

If Brennan had been honestly trying to obtain facts from Alexa, she might have asked whether Alexa had ever witnessed or experienced any abusive behavior by any coach at the World Arena while she was training there with Sappenfield. Instead, she asked a question that assumed Alexa did see things and implied that she failed to report them, and then through her tweet seemingly used Alexa’s answer- which some have characterized as “evasive” - as evidence of the problematic culture of silence in figure skating.

 

[Coco]

deleted

 

[Vagabond]

What bothers me is that Brennan’s questions about Alexa’s coaching status were not the most relevant questions she could have asked, and in fact they seemed more like a stunt to raise her own profile than an honest attempt to further reporting on this issue.

Every mandatory reporter who knows of abuse and fails to report it when required to do so enables future abuse. The way to prevent abuse is to shine a light on the problem, including by asking appropriate questions of mandatory reporters.

When I say this, I am not speaking specifically of sports coaches or the media.

 

[Coco]

As has been explained upthread, anyone who coaches a sport within SafeSport's jurisdiction anywhere in the U.S. is a mandatory reporter to SafeSport, and the mandate may extend (and probably does) to reporting historic abuse, even if the mandatory reporter wasn't a mandatory reporter or witness at the time in question.

@Vagabond I have never heard that being a mandatory reporter means reporting on historical abuse you witnessed before you were a mandatory reporter unless you had personal knowledge it was ongoing. Personal knowledge means you observed it with your own senses (sight, sound, etc.).

Where have you heard the mandate extends to reporting historic abuse? How could a mandatory reporter report something they didn't witness?

 

[once_upon]

I'm somewhat reluctant to post my opinions, because I'm not so good at it and will be flamed.

How many times have people on this forum have said you hate mandatory training and zone out or jump to the answers part of CBT because you think it is stupid or boring or any number of reasons? Mandatory training seems to be the solution to any problem - mandatory reporting, sexual harassment, etc but those who have taught any kind of mandatory training know that it is just something thrown out as a response to "do something" and rarely effective.

How do we know that Alexa was not one of the 11 who filed reports? How do we know what Safe Sports told those who filed reports? There are lots of questions I have regarding the situation.

We know that USFS does not prepare the athletes for news conferences. I know that if I'm caught off guard, or even if I was told it was possible, I would just answer one of the first things that seemed the best answer. Then later say, that was the stupid or wrong answer.

All of you who are so certain that you would report abuse...have you reported any abuse? Especially unseen or not experienced by you?

About 13-14 years ago, I overheard parents from Broadmoor gossiping (it now seems to be true) about potential abuse/sexual pressures by a high level male pairs skater at Broadmoor on young female skaters. I did not report it - and in my state I'm a mandatory reporter. Most likely, the parents didn't report it. It did appear at the time, they were not going to pull their child from the programs/training camp.

In my opinion, there is too much unknown.

 

[PRlady]

I think we all need to be less judgmental of bystanders to abuse. History demonstrates that people ignored far worse things happening next door, from property expropriation to arrest up to and including genocide. It's human nature not to want to get involved/get in trouble/get on the radar as a troublemaker etc in any hierarchical system. Those who do stand up are heroic, per Pastor Niemuller's immortal words.

The evildoers are the ones committing or facilitating abuse, they're the ones we need to focus on.

 

[Vagabond]

@Vagabond I have never heard that being a mandatory reporter means reporting on historical abuse you witnessed before you were a mandatory reporter unless you had personal knowledge it was ongoing. Personal knowledge means you observed it with your own senses (sight, sound, etc.).

Where have you heard the mandate extends to reporting historic abuse? How could a mandatory reporter report something they didn't witness?

Coco, mandatory reporters frequently report abuse that they don't personally witness but that they learn about by talking with the victims. (For example, a student may tell a teacher that her stepfather beat her, but the teacher may never actually observe the beating taking place.)

As I have posted several times before here at FSU, I am (1) the survivor of sibling abuse that occurred when I was five and six years old and (2) an attorney.

A few years ago, underwent EMDR therapy to deal with the long-term effects of being abused. My therapist I saw told me immediately upon hearing my story over the phone in our initial interview that, as a mandatory reporter, he would have to report the abuse to the appropriate authority in the county where I lived as a child and that we should do so together when I came for my first appointment. I looked up the California statute that governs mandatory reporting for child abuse and saw that there is no limitation as to the time. Even though the abuse took place decades ago, my therapist was required to report it. I also looked up the California statute pertaining to mandatory reporting of elder abuse and found that it too had no time limitation.

When I came in a few days later for my first appointment, my therapist and I made the call together.

 

[Tavi]

Every mandatory reporter who knows of abuse and fails to report it when required to do so enables future abuse. The way to prevent abuse is to shine a light on the problem, including by asking appropriate questions of mandatory reporters.

When I say this, I am not speaking specifically of sports coaches or the media.

I don’t disagree, but there’s no evidence that Alexa ever knew of or witnessed or experienced any abuse, much less that she failed to report it. Unless you establish the first part of the equation (ie the foundation ), you don’t really have any basis for asking about the second.

The other thing is, if all adults are now mandatory reporters under SafeSport and Brennan was really just trying to further her reporting and/or shine a light on abuse, she could and should have asked similar questions of other skaters at the press conferences. Did she? So far I haven’t seen any evidence she did.

 

[once_upon]

My therapist I saw told me immediately upon hearing my story over the phone in our initial interview that, as a mandatory reporter, he would have to report the abuse to the appropriate authority in the county where I lived as a child and that we should do so together when I came for my first appointment.

You told her, even if she had not witnessed it, you gave her cause to report.

Again we don't know if it was reported, what Safe Sports investigation is, and by whom. What Safe Sports told those who reported it. Like I said if asked unexpected questions, I would probably give an answer that would inflame everyone. I'm sure even a "no comment" by Alexa wouldn't have been accepted by many.

We just don't know.

 

[Coco]

@Vagabond I am also an attorney. I would consider a victim who is a minor or another class of vulnerable person telling a mandatory reporter about abuse enough to trigger the duty to report. If it is historical, it would depend on where you are / where the abuse occurred as not every state requires mandatory reporters to report historical abuse. I wasn't aware until you posted your story that any state requires mandatory historical reporting. This is an interesting article on the topic. https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug02/ethics