Last weekend’s front-page Mirror article “No gray area for mandated reporters” should have been a must-read for everyone, since virtually everyone has indirect or direct contact with children.

The article in question should have “opened a lot of eyes” regarding safeguards already in place to combat or address unseemly situations that could endanger or damage a child’s life and possibly have negative implications even after that child reaches adulthood.

However, the article also exposed possible issues that, if addressed, could help in the battle against dangerous people or situations.

For example, the article reviewed training requirements for people designated as mandated reporters — people who are required by law to report child abuse to ChildLine when they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child is being abused.

The reasonable response to the requirements currently in place is whether they are adequately comprehensive.

The fact is that they could be made better.

ChildLine is described as being part of a mandated statewide child protective services program designed to receive child abuse referrals and general concerns about child well-being. When information is received, ChildLine transmits it quickly to the appropriate investigating agency.

ChildLine is responsible for receiving verbal and electronic referrals 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The toll-free hotline is 1-800-932-0313.

Some mandated reporters must complete required training every five years or two years. It is not unreasonable to suggest that training be required every year.

For example, some, if not all, casinos require annual training for all employees each year on the same topics related to their operations and the state laws under which they operate — and, of course, their operations are not open to children.

But the training in question keeps those topics fresh in the minds of employees.

Shouldn’t training aimed at protecting children always be fresh in mandated reporters’ minds?

Meanwhile, according to last weekend’s article, not everyone who is a mandated reporter is required to receive mandated reporter training. Perhaps that is OK in many circumstances, but that needs to undergo a total re-examination, considering the scope of the child-abuse problem even here in the Southern Alleghenies region.

The case that is the main point of focus in last weekend’s article was just one despicable example of what has been witnessed in this region in recent years. No doubt some cases — perhaps much more serious cases — of abuse have never been reported and prosecuted.

The article in question made clear that in Pennsylvania child welfare is a county-administered and state-supervised system, and that every allegation of child abuse is investigated. However, that system is not beyond undergoing a total re-examination every five years or so to determine what might be improved, based on the kinds and number of cases surfacing.

Consider who would have imagined a case like the one on which last weekend’s article centered — a 12-year-old boy allegedly sexually assaulting other children on a school bus. It is maddening to think that the situation could have persisted for so long.

Yes, there must be no gray area for mandated reporters.