A Family Centered Approach to Mandated Reporting: An Anticarceral Praxis for Couple and Family Therapists Working With BIPOC Families

Abstract

This paper examines how current therapist training in mandated reporting (MR) and child welfare may inadvertently perpetuate oppression for Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) individuals through engagement in carceral practices rooted in systemic racism. Carceral practices involve coercive or punitive actions to control BIPOC and low-income communities, contributing to lower mental health service utilization among racial minorities, especially those with prior carceral involvement. Therapists in training, believing they are fulfilling ethical and legal duties, may overreport, negatively impacting families of color. From 2015 to 2018, only 9 in 1000 maltreatment cases were confirmed, reflecting the carceral conditioning of therapists. This paper advocates for an anticarceral praxis and proposes an ethical family centered model. It encourages therapists to critically reflect on their roles within carceral paradigms, explore alternative supportive methods for working with BIPOC clients, and review transformative justice, abolitionist approaches, and community-centered alternatives to traditional MR.