“If the law supposes that," said Mr.
Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, "the law is a ass —
a idiot.” So wrote Charles Dickens in his novel Oliver Twist. I can’t help feeling that the law relating to
mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect in Louisiana may be in danger of
becoming ‘a ass’.
Louisiana's Supreme Court has decided that
the state’s law on reporting child abuse and neglect, which mandates health and
social workers, teachers, clergy and other professionals to report child
maltreatment, does not apply to priests who are informed of child abuse and
neglect during a sacramental confession.
It’s not that I think that priests in these
circumstances should face punishment if they don’t report abuse – quite the
contrary. It is more a question of how very easily a mandatory reporting law
becomes a series of illogicalities and arbitrary exclusions and inclusions which
are not really about protecting children better.
If priests do not have to report, why
shouldn’t psycho-therapists and counsellors also be exempt? It seems that Catholic
child abusers are to be granted the right to a confidential hearing denied to
those of other religions or none. While at the same time children of Catholics
seem to be less likely to be protected as a result of the anomaly in the law. Surely
that cannot be right?
The truth of the matter is that mandatory
reporting laws, with their illogical exemptions, are not what is required to ensure
that every child who needs help gets it. Far better than threatening to punish
some professionals for their perceived failings, while arbitrarily exonerating
others, the emphasis should be on helping all professionals to recognise and
understand child abuse and neglect and supporting them, no matter what their
other responsibilities may be, in doing the right thing and reporting the
abuse.
