Sir, - Your report of the debate on mandatory reporting at the AGM of the Irish Association of Social Workers (May 27th) may have given readers the impression that social workers' concerns in relation to this issue are based on a refusal to take on more child abuse referrals. This is not the case. Any additional - currently undetected - cases of alleged abuse known to professionals should be brought into the system, regardless of the resource implications.
it is clear, however, from the experience of other, countries that mandatory reporting does not automatically lead to an improved child protection system. Indeed, the opposite can be the case.
In Australia, for example, mandatory reporting was introduced in five states, after a number of highly publicised child abuse cases and, while bringing some benefits, has also created enormous difficulties over 75 per cent of all reported cases turn out to be unsubstantiated. In effect, many professionals now report to protect themselves, not to protect children. Fear makes them report everything that could be remotely connected to abuse, without exploring the issues with the family/ child. In the process, they overload an already overburdened system. The same could happen here.
Bed wetting, for example, can be a sign of abuse. it can also be a sign of a dozen other problems, or none at all. Are professionals to report every bed wetter they encounter to health board child protection services and the Garda? Will parents be reluctant to bring children with anxiety related problems to their GPs? These are not fanciful questions, such issues will have to be faced if we go, unthinkingly, down the mandatory reporting road.
With fear among professionals as the dominant force, we can expect more unforeseen, negative consequences for services that have been established to help victims. For example, current Eastern Health Board, practice based on legal advice is adversely affecting counselling services to adults sexually abused as children. No one anticipated such an outcome, but it happened nonetheless.
The mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse is not a simple matter. If not handled properly, reporting laws merely. turn into sticks with which to beat professionals and to frighten parents. When the rates of fear rise, the rates of reports also rise but the levels of confirmed cases do not increase. The end result is fewer resources for those clearly identified cases that are detected. - Yours, etc.,
Editor,
Irish Social Worker,
Pearse Street,
Dublin 2.