The obligation to report child abuse or neglect is more complex than it seems
Lucyna M. Lach and Rachel Birnbaum
01 Introduction
02 Clinical scenario
03 Principles and the professional codes of ethics (video)
04 Professional and societal values
05 Codes of ethics (video)
06 Theory
07 Psychosocial theory
08 Ethical theory (video)
09 Legal context (videos)
10 Research
11 Self
12 Epilogue (videos)
13 Themes for discussion
00 References
00 User Guide
00 Learning Account
The obligation to report child abuse or neglect is more complex than it seems
| The obligation to report child abuse or neglect is more complex than it seems Lucyna M. Lach and Rachel Birnbaum (4m03s) |
Professionals who work in child health have a legal responsibility to report suspected child abuse and neglect to the local child welfare authority.
This mandate can be experienced as conflicting with advocacy roles we fulfill in working with families of children with neurodisabilities. As we lean towards ‘tolerating’ and ‘understanding’ parental behaviours or attitudes that would not otherwise be considered acceptable, we are faced with a decision about how to respect the family as a whole vs. how to protect the safety of children.
We are confronted with the possibility that by reporting a family to child welfare authorities we risk doing more harm than good for the child and family. At the same time, we want to make sure that the child is protected from being harmed. In this chapter, Lach and Birnbaum address this issue in the context of social work teaching and practice. However, the analytical framework and principles they use are applicable to, and can easily be transferred to other health disciplines. We aim to unpack the complexity of the thought process that goes into deciding whether to refer vs. not to refer to the local child welfare authority by introducing viewers to the various sources of knowledge that inform this decision.
