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The Role of Mandatory Reporting in Preventative Child Welfare Reforms: An Uneasy Fit?

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Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Identification of Severe Child Abuse and Neglect

Part of the book series: Child Maltreatment ((MALT,volume 4))

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Abstract

Grounded in the Australian child welfare context, this chapter posits that modern approaches to child protection reflect a residual approach to social welfare. It charts the broadening of the scope of child protection and discusses both differential response and public health approaches as instrumental reforms. The implementation of major reforms designed to prevent abuse and neglect and reduce reports to child protection is discussed in the context of two Australian states. A particular focus is the extent to which the different mandatory reporting provisions in each state were aligned with the intent of the child and family welfare reforms.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Note that while the legislation was passed in 2008, the mandatory reporting provisions commenced (i.e. they came into effect) on 1 January 2009.

  2. 2.

    In NSW the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 s 23(1)(d) states that a child is at risk of significant harm (and by virtue of s 71, will be “in need of protection”) if the child or young person is living in a household where there have been incidents of domestic violence, and as a consequence, the child or young person is at risk of serious physical or psychological harm.

  3. 3.

    For the second category of cases – those in which the child’s needs are not being met and parents are unwilling to engage – theoretical and practical issues about the scope of tertiary intervention become important. For example, if a child is moderately neglected and the parents will not engage with help, are court orders sought, to what extent and is this justifiable? At present the system is not sufficiently nuanced to ensure consistent practice in this scenario. Children who are mild/moderately neglected may end up in family support or child protection dependent on the individual worker, capacity of child protection, availability of services for referral, etc. I would argue that where a parent is neglecting their child but is able and willing to engage with relevant supports, then this should not be referred to child protection as a first response. However, if a child is facing the prospect of a childhood characterised by persistent chronic mild/moderate neglect and the parent is unwilling to engage with available services and supports, then this ought to be referred to child protection to use their coercive powers to compel engagement with services or where warranted to remove children. Where this does not occur, we knowingly condemn children to the severe detrimental effects of chronic neglect.

  4. 4.

    Noting that concerns already reported to child protection were not required to be re-reported, for instance, where child protection received a notification and made a report to a family support service, the family support worker would not be required to re-report the same concerns to child protection upon completion of her initial assessment of the family.

  5. 5.

    This is borne out by an extensive research study currently being conducted by a team involving the author of this chapter and the first editor of this volume (results forthcoming).

  6. 6.

    Neglect represents 29 % of all substantiated child protection cases in Australia and is second only to emotional abuse which constitutes 37 % of all substantiations (AIHW 2013).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Centre for Child Protection, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Leah Bromfield

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  1. Leah Bromfield
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Correspondence to Leah Bromfield .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Ben Mathews

  2. Program in Pediatric Law, Policy and Ethics, Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, Aurora, Colorado, USA

    Donald C. Bross

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Bromfield, L. (2015). The Role of Mandatory Reporting in Preventative Child Welfare Reforms: An Uneasy Fit?. In: Mathews, B., Bross, D. (eds) Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Identification of Severe Child Abuse and Neglect. Child Maltreatment, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9685-9_22

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