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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (73754)	8/31/2003 1:04:04 PM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

SOME THOUGHTS ON CHILD ABUSE NOTIFICATION LAWS I oppose child abuse notification laws. Here are some of my rudimentary thoughts on the subject. I don't believe that professionals (whether they be doctors, lawyers, psychiatrists, teachers, or clergy) should be obliged by law to report child abuse when they reasonably suspect that it has occured. When a child abuse problem arises, it is not always true that the best solution is to have the authorities come barging in and imposing a solution of their own. When a crisis situation occurs, sometimes a more discreet approach is in fact preferable. People come to professionals to solve problems precisely because of ability to make independent and sound judgments in the face of a serious problem. The ability for professionals to make such independent judgments is undermined if they are coerced into being arms of law enforcement. It obviously follows from this that there is a disincentive for both children and abusers from turning to a professional to help solve an abuse problem if they know that the cops or social services will be involved. If the authorities come into the picture, they are more likely to destroy the family under the guise of saving it. A comparable analogy would be with a person who had a substance abuse problem. Such a person would be a fool to seek out medical treatment if the doctors were required to report him to the State for suspected drug offenses. Criminal charges would inevitably be filed, his livelihood and family would be damaged if not destroyed, and his problem would remain unsolved. I don't see why child abuse should be treated any differently. Finally, notification laws encourage professionals to report persons where there is only flimsy evidence thereby creating nightmares for innocent families and damaging the professional relationship. This is, perhaps, the most corrosive and terrible evil of all. It is understandable why notification laws exist. They purport to serve the worthy goal of promptly removing a child from an on-going abusive situation. However, the real benefit to the state from notification comes not from professionals who are in a position to do something about an abusive situation, but from average schmucks like you and me who observe an abusive situation but are not in a position to intervene. Yet, notification laws generally do not require average citizens to report child abuse and could not do so without exposing everyone to an unacceptable risk of criminal liability. Notification laws, therefore, are both underinclusive and overinclusive at the same time. Some alternative to the current system must be devised. patrickrothwell.blogspot.com