Implications for Practice, Education, Policy, and Research

This chapter presents a discussion of practice, education, policy, and research implications pertaining to the mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. The first section centres on implications for practice in urban, suburban, rural, and remote environments and includes aspects such as working with colleagues, reporting in the workplace, and discussing the limits of confidentiality. What follows are implications for educators of future mandatory reporters. These implications explore educating students in the typology of child abuse and neglect, working in Northern Canada, and the importance of reflection. This chapter also includes suggestions for training that can be incorporated into the curriculum such as reflection, experiential exercises, case vignette, and simulation. The latter half of the chapter explores policy implications with specific attention to data collection and analysis of reported children and families in an effort to detect and respond to racial disparities in the child welfare system. At a national level, implications also include greater consistency in mandatory reporting legislation between provinces and territories. The chapter concludes with implications for research and focuses specifically on furthering our understanding of decision-making processes and disclosure within child sexual abuse.