Child abuse and neglect statutes: Legal and clinical implications.

Abstract

E m h of the 50 stutes has enacted some version of a "mandatory reporting tict, " which requires mental health professionals t o report instances of suspected child cibuse or neglect. Requirements of these statutes may supersede putient-therapist confidentiality in the interest of protecting chil-dren. Clinical and ethical dilemmas created fo r the therapist by mandatory reporting requirements are explored. he last several decades have seen T some dramatic changes in the law as it affects the American family. A number of Supreme Court cases have examined intrafamily relations, and as a consequence there has been an erosion of the tradition of family privacy that had characterized Anglo-American law for centuries. The famous case, I n re Gr11rlf, ~ for example, established the right of minors facing criminal charges in a juvenile proceeding to due process rights com-mensurate with those afforded adults. Though Guulf was a criminal case in the narrow sense, it served the purpose of strengthening the legal rights of children and acknowledged their due process rights in instances that touched upon their "liberty interest. " The progeny of Griirlt have led to a considerable expan-sion of the concept of legal rights of minors in a variety of contexts, both criminal and civil. An inevitable consequence of this ex-pansion of children's rights has been a collision of the claims of children's ad-vocates on the one hand with the pre-rogatives of parental authority on the other. This collision of claims is now loudly heard in the courts and legisla-tures as an attempt is made to find a social policy that fairly balances these competing rights, taking cognizance of changing social realities and values. Legal contests between parent and child now cover diverse areas, which include privacy rights, right to medical treatment, right to abortions, access to birth control information, and right to an Sithniit trd t o the Joirrnal in Fehrirary 1980.

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