Reporting Suspected Child Maltreatment: Educating Social Work Students in Decision Making and Maintaining the Relationship

Abstract

Yordy, J. (2023). Poverty and child neglect: How did we get it wrong? National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). https://www.ncsl.org/ state-legislatures-news/details/poverty-and-child-neglect-how-did-we-getit-wrong

Decision-Making and Relationship Competence When Reporting Suspected Physical Abuse and Child Neglect: An Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation

“…Practitioners often do not report based on legislative standards but as a response to subjective perceptions and emotions (Kuruppu et al 2020 ; Nouman et al 2020 ). Students, in particular may be swayed by their emotional responses to case material more than practitioners (Tufford et al 2019 ; Fleming et al 2015 ). In addition, prior negative experiences with CPS and bias against the effectiveness of CPS often act as a deterrent to involve the child welfare system and contribute to a prioritization of self-addressing the maltreatment concerns through a combination of education, support, and outside resources (Tufford and Morton 2018 ; Nouman et al 2020 ).…”

“…The professional judgment involved in the decision to report child maltreatment can be a subjective, moral stance (Regehr et al 2010) and students will often consider mitigating factors beyond the abuse such as the perpetrator’s age, marital status, substance use, and history of violence (Smith 2006 ). The loss of the therapeutic relationship serves as an additional influential factor (Tufford et al 2019 ) as well as the level of engagement between the family and other helping professionals such as previous practitioners or social service agencies (Nouman et al 2020 ).…”

“…In addition, low confidence practitioners and students often find it more challenging to draw upon knowledge frameworks to guide their practice and are more likely to experience difficulties engaging the client (Bogo et al 2017 ). The level of confidence for many practitioners and students may also be dependent on the case situation including the client’s culture, specifically disciplinary belief systems, the number of years lived in the country of origin, and existing support networks (Tufford et al 2019 ).…”

Child maltreatment online education for healthcare and social service providers: Implications for the COVID-19 context and beyond

“…The low report rate by HSSPs, especially by hospital personnel (∼5%) ( Fallon, Filippelli, Joh-Carnella, Miller, & Denburg, 2019 ; Tonmyr et al, 2010 ), is concerning given that the proportion of children and adolescents who are experiencing child maltreatment and who come to the attention of child protection authorities is already considered a huge underestimate of the true incidence in the Canadian population ( Public Health Agency of Canada, 2010 ). Furthermore, other evidence indicates that HSSPs experience challenges in recognizing less overt forms of child maltreatment (e.g., emotional abuse, emotional neglect, children’s exposure to IPV), initiating conversations with children and caregivers about potential maltreatment concerns, and ensuring private, safe spaces for children to discuss their concerns and experiences ( Beynon, Gutmanis, Tutty, Wathen, & MacMillan, 2012 ; Kimber, McTavish, Couturier et al, 2019 , 2019b ; McTavish et al, 2017 ; Tufford, Bogo, & Asakura, 2014 ; Tufford, Bogo, Katz, Lee, & Ramjattan, 2019 ). A recent qualitative meta-synthesis on children’s and caregivers perspectives of the mandatory reporting process concluded that HSSPs need to pay greater attention to the provision of empathy, warmth, and appropriate referrals for supportive community services when working with individuals who have been exposed to child maltreatment ( McTavish et al, 2019 ).…”

Decision-Making Factors in the Mandatory Reporting of Child Maltreatment

“…A minority of these participants raised the issue during the client interview as they reported lacking the knowledge to broach this topic and how to ask questions to ensure the child's safety. Tufford et al (2018) presented a 3 h training workshop to forty-one Bachelor of Social Work (n = 18) and Master of Social Work (n = 24) students which focused on decisionmaking factors when reporting suspected child maltreatment. Participants were given a case vignette and responded in writing to structured, qualitative questions.…”