Reporter Training Reflection

To be honest, when I initially learned that we were assigned to take a Mandated Reporter Training I was excited because I thought that the training would be a breeze for me because I already know what it is all about. I had already received training in mandatory reporting and have been completing reporting for several years now. I was surprised when I scored answers incorrectly that I was sure that I knew. While I did answer most of the questions correctly I honestly love that I did indeed have something to learn from this training. I also love that I have found more resources that I can now use to help that children and families that I serve and that I will serve in the future. Ego aside, I have had to make a large number of calls to the child abuse hotline 1-888-SOS-CHILD and it was a
The training says to not tell the parent because if child welfare investigators are assigned then the parents having the knowledge can affect their investigation. I have heard in the past that professionals were encouraged to sit down with the parent, if the allegation was directly from the parents report, and make the call to the child abuse hotline together. I have never done this but the training makes me weary about offering this in the future because I do not want to impede an investigation. It is usually the case that when I have to make a report to the child abuse hotline that the parents spend time trying to investigate who made the call. At this point it is difficult for me to know what to do. If I tell the parent then we could lose rapport or have a damaged professional relationship. I prefer to be honest but I do not see how that information will be helpful. What I do explain, in these situations, is the fact that I am and the others on the treatment teams, the doctors and other professionals are all mandated reporters and I use it as a teachable moment with the