Mandatory Reporting and Adolescent Sexual Assault

Abstract

Adolescents experience alarmingly high rates of sexual violence, higher than any other age-group. This is concerning as sexual violence can have detrimental effects on teens’ personal and relational well-being, causing long-term consequences for the survivor. Still, adolescents are hesitant to report the assault or seek out services and resources. When an adolescent survivor does seek out services, they may interact with a provider who is a mandatory reporter. This scoping review sought to synthesize the current U.S.-based research on the role, challenges, and impact of mandatory reporting (MR) in the context of adolescent sexual assault. Database searches using key words related to MR, sexual assault, and adolescence identified 29 peer-reviewed articles. However, none of these articles reported on empirical investigations of the phenomenon of interest and instead consisted of case studies, commentaries, and position papers. The scoping review was expanded to provide a lay of the land of what we know about the intersection of adolescent sexual assault and MR. Results of the review indicate that though implemented broadly, MR policies vary between individuals, organizations, and states and have historically been challenging to implement due to this variation, conflicts with other laws, tension between these policies and providers’ values, and other factors. Based on the available literature, the impact of MR in the context of adolescent sexual assault is unknown. There is a critical need for research and evaluation on the implementation and impact of MR policies, especially in the context of adolescents and sexual violence.

Adolescents and sexual assault: A critical integrative review

“…Although some states have established legislation to ensure confidentiality and protect the privacy of teens who seek out specific medical care (see Guttmacher Institute, 2023), these laws can be usurped by MR policies, particularly when the medical professional believes that the teen is seeking services as a result of abuse or neglect (Mathews & Bross, 2015; see Bailey et al, 2023, for a review of MR in the context of adolescent SA). MR policies were first instituted in the 1960s in direct response to the rising awareness and concerns around child abuse (Mathews & Bross, 2015).…”

“…MR policies were first instituted in the 1960s in direct response to the rising awareness and concerns around child abuse (Mathews & Bross, 2015). Since then, MR policies have continued to expand across the United States, and other parts of the world, as an intervention for stopping current and preventing future harm to vulnerable groups (e.g., the elderly, those with disabilities, those under the age of 18), and to increase awareness of abuse (Bailey et al, 2023; Jenny et al, 2013; Mathews & Bross, 2015; Palusci & Vandervort, 2014; Raz, 2017).…”

“…Accordingly, and in line with our integrative review approach, we purposively included literature from across these levels of analysis: adolescent development at the individual level; dynamics of adolescent SA at the interpersonal level; and adolescents' legal standing, rights, and systems experiences at the institutional and structural level. Before completing this integrative review, we conducted a scoping review of mandatory reporting (MR) and adolescent SA (see Bailey et al, 2023). That initial review was conducted using “SA” or “rape” in combination with (i.e., and) “adolescent” or “teenager” in combination with (i.e., and) “mandatory report” or “mandated report.” Articles from the adolescent SA and MR review that aligned with this integrated review were included and used to inform sections of this review.…”

The Case for Mandatory Reporting as an Ethical Dilemma for Social Workers

“…It was not until the passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) in 1974 that mandatory reporting laws became a federal funding condition (Raz, 2020). These laws require reporters to assess the "reasonableness" of their suspicion, a quality that is ill-defined and variably interpreted across professions (Bailey et al, 2021;Lytle et al, 2021). In subsequent years, the number of reports skyrocketed, prompting states to open hotlines despite a lack of evidence that increased reporting helped better identify and assist children at-risk of abuse (Raz, 2020).…”

“…While the child welfare system is not a branch of the criminal legal system, it has and continues to frequently operate in collaboration with penal systems through CPS (Dettlaff et al, 2020;Jacobs et al, 2021). Of particular interest to this project is that child welfare systems disproportionately target and disrupt Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities (Bailey et al, 2021;Dettlaff et al, 2020;Fong, 2020;Roberts, 2002Roberts, , 2020.…”