Foster Care Training

As a psychologist working with children it is imperative to stay informed about the guidelines for mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect. In work with children and teens, we often face situations in which there is clear evidence that emotional, physical or sexual abuse of a child has occurred. In these cases its important to understand how to support the child throughout the reporting process and to understand the clinical and psychological implications of how making a report can impact the child and their family (whether the alleged perpetrator of abuse is in their family or not). In interventions with children there are also times where evidence of abuse is not as clear, and clinical judgment becomes especially important. Additionally, there are ongoing changes to child abuse reporting laws that mental health professionals have an ethical and legal mandate to know and apply in our work. Case scenarios will highlight common complex mandated reporting issues as well as adolescent scenarios including dating/statutory rape guidelines, as well as “sexting” and other issues related to technology and safety. Mental health practitioners need to continue to be aware of all guidelines impacting the safety of children and teens and the parameters of mandating reporting.