Mandated Child Abuse

Mandated Reporting of Child Abuse
The online training for mandated reporting of child abuse, presented by the Maricopa County Children’s Justice Program was extremely insightful and provided me with precise information. This information will assist me throughout my career in the social work field. The training went through various topics, including, the mandatory reporting statue, types of abuse, Maricopa protocol for the investigation of child abuse and advocacy centers. This training strives to educate mandated reporters about these topics so they can better understand how to approach cases that involve child abuse.
The training provides advice about who is responsible for reporting abuse of a child. The statue explains that anyone with a reasonable belief that an individual under the age of 18 is enduring abuse or neglect, or has endured abuse or neglect in the past, must immediately repot the matter to either, child protective services or a peace officer. The training discussed how to form a reasonable belief from a child’s disclosure, unexplained injuries or inconsistent stories about injuries, and third party
disclosures. In addition to these requirements for reporters, there are four categories of reporters who are mandated to report. These categories include parents, police office, professional reporters and anyone who provides care for a minor. The instruction on child abuse does a comprehensive job of explaining who the reporters are responsible to report the suspected abuse to.
The training allows the trainee to understand that he or she is immune from any legal action when they report.
However, the individual can be penalized if they do not report suspected abuse. The explanation of the different types of abuse was the most helpful aspect of the training. These types of abuse include sexual, physical, emotional, and neglect. This aspect will be most helpful throughout my social work career due to the details that are provided about the different types of abuse. Being able to determine what qualifies as abuse will aid me in appropriately observing minors for signs, which will allow me to recognize when a case of child abuse needs to be reported to a peace officer of child protective services. By understanding these responsibilities, as a social worker, I can assure that I am conducting work that is ethically
sound.
It is important to consider the National Association of Social Workers Codes of Ethics information on how mandatory reporting requirements can effect confidentiality. NASW reports that reporting child abuse and neglect constitutes as breaching confidentiality of the client and is considered to be unethical. However, “a social worker is required by law to report that a client has abused a child” (National Association of Social Workers, 1999). In addition, the ethical description under privacy and confidentiality describes “confidential does not apply when disclosure is necessary to prevent serious, foreseeable, and imminent harm to a client or other identifiable person” (National Association of Social Workers, 1999).
It is crucial that mandatory reporters of child abuse, perform their duty to warn, in order to prevent harm. Professional personal such as, social service workers, account for “fifty percent of all investigated reports of child abuse” (National Association of Social Workers, 1999). as a result of the legal requirement of mandatory reporting. Overall, the training and additional information that has been encountered has helped me understand, that throughout my social work career, I may be faced with the ethical dilemma of breaching the con2fidenality of my client, in order to protect an individual from harm. From this experience, I have gained the knowledge that will assist me in making the appropriate decision of reporting child abuse to the proper authority, in order to protect.