have been no further changes after the Wood legislation. Therefore, the current situation, existing since 24 January 2010, is that members of a broad range of professions are required to report current concerns for the safety, welfare or well-being of a child because of the presence, to a significant extent, of (s 23)(1)): the child’s basic physical or psychological needs are not being met or are at risk of not being met; lack of necessary medical care and the parents’ caregivers are unable or willing to arrange it; (b1) lack of education in accordance with the Education Act; the child has been or is at risk of being physically or sexually abused or ill-treated; the child is living in a household where there have been incidents of domestic violence and as a consequence the child is at risk of serious physical or psychological harm a parent/caregiver has behaved in such a way towards the child that the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering serious psychological harm; the child was subject of a prenatal report and the birth mother and the mother did not engage successfully with support services to eliminate, or minimize to the lowest level reasonably practical, the risk factors that gave rise to the report’. No penalty exists for noncompliance.
et al 1962; Mathews & Bross 2008; Mathews 2012; Meriwether 1986 Bioethics, consequentialism, children’s rights Reporting enables health rehabilitation to be provided to the child, and can prevent the escalation of abuse and subsequent cost Finkelhor 1990, 2005; Mathews & Bross 2008; Mathews 2012; Mendes 1996; Meriwether 1986 Bioethics; pragmatism; consequentialism Mandatory reporting laws are a beneficial approach which contributes to child protection but must be appropriately drafted, reporters must be properly trained, and child protection systems must be properly resourced to respond to reports Mathews et al 2009; Paulsen 1967 Pragmatism A legislative reporting duty protects the professional reporter, who in any event is complying with an ethical duty, in a way a policy duty or a voluntary duty cannot Besharov 1990 Pragmatism; consequentialism Mandatory reporting duties have reduced fatalities Greipp 1997; Katner et al 2012; Kim et al 2012; Mathews 2012; Walters 1995 Bioethics, deontology Mandatory reporting is consistent with ethical professional duties Bala et al 1986; Finlayson et al 1991; Yelas 1992 Children’s rights, liberalism, feminism Child abuse is both a matter requiring intervention to assist the child and a State/public concern which legitimizes a necessary level of intrusion in the private sphere Mathews 2014b Children’s rights, liberalism, Mill, Locke, feminism, Rawls’s revised social contract theory, Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach Mandatory reporting of serious child abuse and neglect is consistent with multiple strands of political philosophy and normative ethics Anderson et al 1993; Harper & Irvin 1985; Kalichman & Craig Bioethics; pragmatism; consequentialism Reporting does not necessarily affect existing therapeutic relationships; it can even assist in therapy and strengthen the alliance between patient and therapist
Melton 2005; Worley & Melton 2014 Pragmatism; consequentialism Mandatory reporting was a strategy designed to respond to a group of cases which was anticipated to be much smaller than actually exists et al 2012; Humphreys 2008 rights and autonomy; pragmatism; consequentialism Apart from cases that are clearly seriously harmful for the child, legislative reporting of children exposed to domestic violence is not justified or efficient theoretically, conceptually or practically