The Child Abuse Reporting Laws: An Ethical Dilemma for Professionals

1993 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
pp. 557-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Thompson-Cooper ◽  
Renée Fugère ◽  
Bruno M. Cormier
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Current System ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Child Abuse Reporting ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Right ◽  
Reporting Laws ◽  
The Relationship

A central issue in the development of family law and child protection in this country has been the right of the state to intervene in family life. The reporting laws, which were developed in the 1960s, made it mandatory for any citizen, including professionals, to report child abuse (physical and sexual) to the authorities. These laws have fundamentally altered the relationship between the clinician and families in need of help and have resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of cases assessed and treated by child welfare agencies. Because of the emphasis on case-finding, the limited resources have been stretched to the point where families with serious problems of child abuse do not get the services they require. Apparently, at least 60% of all reports turn out to be unfounded. Other criticisms of the current system include ineffective intervention, over-intervention and ignoring parents’ rights. The legalization and bureaucratization of the child protection process has profoundly affected the relationship between troubled families and social workers who now must “investigate” them as well as help them. This role conflict is exacerbated even further in cases of alleged child sexual abuse, where social workers are often expected to inform the police of the allegations. The authors argue that the reporting laws have been useful in that society is aware of the problem, and they suggest that it may be more beneficial now to dispose of them. A system such as the “confidential doctor” system currently operating in the Netherlands, whereby legal authorities are only notified if the abusive family does not cooperate with the helping professionals, prevents the negative consequences of the coercive and intrusive intervention in our system and provides an opportunity to work with those families on a voluntary basis whenever possible.

Linking Schools and Social Services: The Case of Child Abuse Reporting

1990 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail L. Zellman
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
School Staff ◽  
Abuse Reporting ◽  
Child Abuse Reporting ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Resource Limitations ◽  
Reporting Laws ◽  
Apparent Conflict

Coordination of schools and child protective services (CPS) agencies on child abuse reporting is required by law because school staff are mandated to report suspected maltreatment to CPS agencies. National data reveal that school staff generally comply with the reporting mandate. Although school district policy and resource limitations reinforce compliance with the reporting laws, CPS agency policies designed to limit reports and to focus resources on the most serious cases are inconsistent with district policies. As a result, school staff reports may be greeted with annoyance and rejection. The implications of this apparent conflict for child protection and for other coordination efforts are discussed.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Violence Estimation in Russia through a Retrospective Youth Survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-182
Author(s):  
E.N. Volkova ◽  
I.V. Volkova ◽  
O.M. Isaeva
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Measuring Instruments ◽  
Youth Survey ◽  
Wide Variability ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
The Relationship

Objective. Estimating the prevalence of violence among children born in Russia in the 1980s, in the early 1990s and in the late 1990s using a retrospective youth survey. Background. Assessing the prevalence of a child abuse is an unresolved scientific and methodological problem. There are disagreements in approaches to assess the prevalence of violence, in interpreting the results. However, the main problem is the problem of reliable measuring instruments. Many studies show a wide variability in estimating prevalence and even in compared parameters; even greater discrepancies arise when it comes to identifying the factors and consequences of child abuse. Such a wide variability of estimation is associated with the insufficient quality of the measuring instruments and research procedures themselves. Study design. The sampling analyzed data on the prevalence of violence among “post-Soviet children”, “children of the 90s” and “children of the 21st century”. The presence and nature of the relationship was checked using methods of mathematical statistics (correlation analysis and analysis of the significance of differences). Participants. The study sample consisted of 537 people aged 18 to 24 years (M=20.23, SD=1.84) living in the Russian Federation. The 2006 sample of respondents included 144 people (25,7% of boys, 74,3% of girls), 2012 — 203 people (36,4% of boys, 63,6% of girls), 2018 — 190 people (35,7% of boys, 64,3% of girls). Measurements. International Questionnaire ICAST-R (ICAST-Retrospective) (adapted by E.N. Volkova, O.M. Isaeva). Results. A comparative analysis of the prevalence of violence among “children of the 21st cen¬tury”, “post-Soviet children” and “children of the 90s” showed that there is more similarity between these groups than differences in the severity of types, forms of violence and their frequency of occurrence (with the exception of cases of sexual violence, the percentage of cases of which is significantly reduced from the 2006 study to the 2018th year). Conclusions. A retrospective survey of young people using ICAST-R allows you to assess the prevalence of violence among children, as well as the state of the child protection system from violence and the content of public perceptions regarding child abuse.

scholarly journals Child Abuse And Neglect: Mandatory Reporting and the Legal Profession

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Deverson
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Child Abuse And Neglect ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Abuse And Neglect ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Legal Professional ◽  
Reporting Laws

Child abuse and neglect affects approximately 42 500 children in Australia each year. Parliaments in all Australian states and territories have introduced mandatory reporting into child protection legislation to protect vulnerable children by requiring certain individuals to report suspicions of abuse or neglect. However, lawyers are prevented from reporting because of the rules governing legal professional privilege and confidentiality. This article begins by examining the problem of child abuse and neglect in Australia and outlines the current legislative framework of mandatory reporting laws in Part II. Part III discusses the current rules governing lawyers and examines legal professional privilege and the duty of confidentiality. Part IV provides arguments for and against requiring lawyers to report suspected abuse and also considers the lawyer-client relationship and the special position of domestic violence victims. Part V offers recommendations for the proposed legislative reform. This article concludes that lawyers should be required to report child abuse and neglect.

scholarly journals “Viajando em Jesus”: os evangélicos norte-americanos e a contracultura

2020 ◽  
pp. 924
Author(s):  
Axel R. Schäfer
Keyword(s):  
Christian Right ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Cultural Form ◽  
Conservative Protestant ◽  
New Christian Right ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

The political mobilization of conservative Protestants in the United States since the 1970s is commonly viewed as having resulted from a “backlash” against the alleged iniquities of the 1960s, including the excess-es of the counterculture. In contrast, this article maintains that conservative Protestant efforts to infiltrate and absorb the counterculture contributed to the organizational strength, cultural attractiveness, and politi-cal efficacy of the New Christian Right. The essay advances three arguments: First, that evangelicals did not simply reject the countercultural ideas of the 1960s, but absorbed and extended its key sentiments. Second, that conservative Protestantism’s appropriation of countercultural rhetoric and organizational styles played a significant role in the right-wing political mobilization of evangelicals. And third, that the merger of evan-gelical Christianity and countercultural styles, rather than their antagonism, ended up being one of the most enduring legacies of the sixties. In revisiting the relationship between the counterculture and evangelicalism, the essay also explores the larger implications for understanding the relationship between religion and poli-tics. The New Christian Right domesticated genuinely insurgent impulses within the evangelical resurgence. By the same token, it nurtured the conservative components of the counterculture. Conservative Protestant-ism thus constituted a political movement that channeled insurgencies into a cultural form that relegitimized the fundamental trajectories of liberal capitalism and consumerist society.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document