Question

A therapist works in a non-profit counseling center that specializes in working with women and families. The therapist meets with a child and her mother in a therapy session. The parents are divorced and the child lives with the mother. The father has standard visitation rights. During the session, the mother tells the therapist that she believes the non-custodial father may be sexually abusing the child. The therapist has seen the child and the mother over a period of months and this has never been mentioned before. The therapist instructs the Mother to call CPS to report the suspected abuse. It is late on Friday afternoon. The counseling center has as one of its goals to empower women to be proactive in protecting themselves and their children. The therapist is under supervision. She calls her supervisor before leaving and goes over her session and her plan to check to make sure on Monday that the mother has called CPS. The therapist agrees to this plan. On Monday morning, the therapist calls the Mother to make sure she has made a report. The Mother says she did not make a report and that she expected the therapist to report. The therapist calls CPS to report what she was told. Later the mother files a complaint against the therapist with the Board for not reporting the abuse at the time she was told about the suspected abuse. Analyze the case fully including the validity of the complaint, the therapist actions, and what you would have done in the same situation and why. Explain your answer fully.

Answer 1

The therapist is being supervised. He would have made a note of the important actions and activities happened during the session. It is the duty of the therapist to notify any criminal/abuse which he has come to know, during the therapy sessions. These are not meant to hidden as confidential information. The abuse report can be done either by the concerned person or the therapist himself. In this case, the therapist instructs the mother to lodge a report. The same is notified to the supervisor as well. As an extra step, the therapist also enquires about the report. The mother may be either forgetful or by mistake thinks that therapist should have done it. She has lodged a complaint against him. Every complaint is valid and will be checked upon by the Board. Since, the therapist is not at fault, no action will be taken against him. I would have done the same thing, had I been in the therapist's position. This is because, this is the logical way of doing things. I am encouraging women empowerment and to be proactive in protecting themselves. I have not ignored the abuse information, even though it was not mentioned before.