Confidentiality and Counsellors

[Rosetta]

Following on from an earlier thread, are Counsellors able to say that information they have received is Privileged and or confidential they therefore do not have to disclose it in matters of child abuse.?
My understanding is that Privileged information only relates to doctor/ patient; lawyer/client;, priests; husbands/ wives . I know for instance it doesn't apply to Appropriate Adults even if professionally qualified

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/Question684 195.html

[Annna]

Any professional who uncovers a disclosure of child abuse is legally obliged to repond. It is their duty to follow it up. The client/therapist confidentiality does not apply in the case of child abuse (or any other serious abuse). They must respond, even if it is only suspected.

[Rosetta]

Thats what I thought but the response from West yorkshire Police was, for me, unclear. Take a look at the original thread and see if you agree

Many thanks for your reply btw

[jwallum]

hello there
its nice to see people still discussing my question, it is a very difficult question to answer, because of the moral of our duty as an adult, reguarding of what status we are.
But does anyone think that a child might just want to talk about it. if they knew you were going to report it they might keep it to themselves. which is no help for the child. ok some children will tell you because they want help in letting the right people know, but some might not, they might feel that if it got out they would be eg. splitting up a family, sending a loved one to prison, might make a parent/friend/relative hate them, i read on one site that a child had to give evidence about thier dad they found it very painful, they said i hate what my dad did to me, but i dont hate my dad.
There are many reasons a child would want to keep it quite, and each and every reason is unjustified, but not to a child. why shouldn't a child be able to just to talk about it without fear, why shouldn't they be able to make the right choice for themselves. for them to talk about it is a healing process alone, for them to open up and tell someone for the first time must be a great relief. but if they knew you was going to break confidentiality then all could be lost.

i understand we all have a right to report, as my last post stated but not by law. so if a member of joe public doesn't have to report it, them why should any professional if they feel that a child would benifit more by keeping their trust. as its quite clear that an abused child must really find it hard to trust anybody.

i hope this makes sence,
ps. i do and i dont think its wrong to report it, i just feel that everybody should do what is best for the child.

[Rosetta]

jwallum, whilst I agree with your sentiments I dont necessarily agree with your conclusion.

What I was hoping to do in starting my thread was to bring it up the page ( if it goes off the 1st page it often gets no further replies) and a hope that certain abers with legal experience would give their views.
And to give me clarity

[Rosetta]

The child disclosing the abuse to a counsellor would not necessarily stop that abuse happening as abuse frequently appears repeatedly over a period of time, nor would it protect other children in the family or in the wider community. Abusers are rarely one off offenders. How would a counsellor have this information in terms of his criminal behaviors. A counsellor on her own does not have the power to protect future harm to the child or children

The child has lived with toxic secrets, is the counsellor not adding a further layer of secrets by taking the matter no further.? If the perpetrator continues to abuse, what consequences are there for him. NONE. the inaction reinforces his view that he can get away with it and there is nothing wrong with what he is doing. In fact he may in his twisted logic continue to think the child asked for it

Remember abuse , and sexual abuse is sometimes perpetrated on babies. Is a 6yr old or a 10 year old old enough to make a fully informed choice when she may have been groomed to feel guilty,and afraid, and twistedly its what happens in all families

Disclosure is an incredible difficult thing for a child and hadling that takes incredible skill and training over and above that a normal counsellor would have. As a proffesional you have a duty to the child and in some circumstances to protect the child tough decisions have to be taken with the accumulated skills of a multi disciplinary team to provide that support

In my opinion any professional keeping that information to themselves is irresponsible and would be deemed negligent. The counsellor may be the one to work with the child in the first instance but again the decision that she is the best person for the job should not be hers unilaterally

[pinktwink]

well said rosetta.
Actually in Ireland we have statutory reporting of child abuse which means all professionals must report abuse to the local social services.

Whist it can pose particular difficulties for counsellors regarding confidentiality that is not privledged here and the alleged perpetrator named

jwa you note many children would want to keep it quite and may need to talk about it as part of a healing process. How can a child heal if that abuse is still going on or they fear another relative is being abused?? My expierence as working in the child protection area is the reason children disclose is because they want the abuse to stop. By not reporting you are further colluding with the whole secrecy that allows abuse continue. Whilst you may have dilemmas reporting at least you know the child will now be safe. The alternative may be severe mental health issues in the long term for the child.
Finally you query why professionla have to report if the public dont. Well precisely as they are professionals and with their supposed qualification and experience it is assumed they know more in detecting the signs

[jwallum]

hello again,
i am really finding it hard to write this essay due to the fact of so many different views on so many different websites, its one i think i will continue looking into long after i have handed in this essay, i know when i appiled to join childline, which i have been accepted for and waiting for a training date they did say to me that they are the only organizasion that is allowed to not report it. but after further serching website after website i have found yet another view.

http://www.therapytoday.net/index.php?magId=23 &action=viewArticle&articleId=61

so now how does this fit in. why cant their be just one rule. why cant everything be stright forward for each and every person. i have already gone 2000 + words over what i should have wrote, but there is so many conflicting points to put across. off to bed now too much research has given me a headache

[pinktwink]

personally I would never work for childline however in ireland they must report all abuse to social services. They are not exempt. To e honest I think it is hypocritical to claim to protect children when not advising the authorities when they are being abused. I would ask for their policy on this, You may also neeed to check out your position on this with your training professional body as ther are standards and rthics to each profession

[thugulike]

I used to be a counsellor. A social worker disclosed an issue to me which he had previously reported to his supervisor who chose to ignore it. I checked my rules of confidentiality which stated that I could only breach confidentiality if the person making the disclosure was at risk of hurting themselves or others. That was clearly not the case. I sought advice from our Legal Department and received a wonderful letter which said I could be dismissed for gross misconduct if I did not blow the whistle immediately. I did blow the whistle and was relieved to do so. This involved child abuse and was absolutly the right action to take. There is no dilemma here, all children and vulnerable adults have the right to be safe.