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Children's Bureau has each state listed with the requirements for reporting child abuse broken down according to state. Mandatory reporters are listed along with the family codes that are aligned with reporting child abuse. As according to the statutes "teachers or daycare workers", this would include counselors are required to report child abuse and they " may not delegate to or rely on another person to make the report" for them (Children's Bureau, 52). Due to the nature of being good faith reporters it does take the legal threat of being sued out of the picture or being terminated from one's position for reporting suspected abuse. If one is terminated for reporting abuse they are able to seek relief through the court system. When reporting child abuse the idea of privileged communication is not an issues as it must be reported regardless. Within the report the reporting person does not have to disclose their name and their name not does not to be disclosed to any entity who is not privilege to the information such as law enforcement.

According to the American Journal of Public Health "1 in d 1 in 4 children living in the United States experience some form of maltreatment during their lifetime" (Ho, Gross, & Bettencourt, 709). The numbers are high, but the mandatory report law seems to have no effect on reporting only cases that are found to be cases of actual abuse. The mandatory reporting law as explored by this article showed that nonprofessionals reported more than professions in states that were using mandatory reporting laws. At the same time the number of child deaths due to abuse/maltreatment has decreased since states have implemented mandatory reporting laws. The mandatory reporting laws as reviewed does not show to really have an effect on the number of confirmed cases reported.

In the role of counselor for me child abuse will be a factor I face often. Child abuse is an important topic for counselors and school personnel because we are mandatory reporters and we are in the profession we are in because we love to help kids be successful. It is hard to be successful when home life is not supportive. Due to legal issues educators must pay attention and report or face legal consequences. The ethics behind the child abuse reporting is the student must understand that the ethical thing for the counselor to do is report. Students should be told upfront based upon our ethics code we are required to report anything that will put the child or someone else in harm. In my work as a counselor child abuse is something I will face when meeting with students because it could be the underlying issue of why they are acting out, using drugs, desperate for attention seeking it inappropriately. In my line of work alone this year I have had multiple cases where the child has divulged information of physical or sexual abuse in the home which has caused them to use drugs or self-harm. Abuse is so prevalent that as educators we can see it weekly.

References
Children’s Bureau. (2015). State statutes current through August 2015. Retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/manda.pdf

Ho, G. W. K., Gross, D. A., & Bettencourt, A. (2017). Universal Mandatory Reporting Policies and the Odds of Identifying Child Physical Abuse. American Journal of Public Health, 107(5), 709–716. https://doi-org.easydb.angelo.edu/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303667

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https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/manda.pdf

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Ho, G. W. K., Gross, D. A., & Bettencourt, A. (2017). Universal Mandatory Reporting Policies and the Odds of Identifying Child Physical Abuse. American Journal of Public Health, 107(5), 709–716. https://doi-org.easydb.angelo.edu/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303667

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Legal and ethical issue of reporting to Child Protective Services and sharing the information is concerning.

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Step Two - Option Two - Professional Association Website - Texas Counseling Association

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Step Two - Option Two - Professional Association Website - Texas Counseling Association

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The Texas Counseling Association website lead me to a few PDF documents. In the documents bullying and reporting child abuse were concerns discussed. Discussion included bullying, what constitutes bullying, helping a student who has been bullied and reporting bullying. All of these I feel are extremely important for counselors and teacher to be aware of for our students alone but, especially with David's Law. Another topic covered was the reporting of child abuse. Child abuse is a huge topic because counselors are mandatory reporters. The counselor's first obligation is to the child, reporting the abuse is part of this obligation. The report must be done within 48 hours from the  time of suspecting or knowing of the abuse. As counselors are mandatory reporters they must make sure they are reporting in good faith and they should be clear of legal obligations.

http://www.txca.org/images/chapters/border/law_and_ethics.pdf

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Step Two -Option Two - Professional Association Websites - American School Counselor Association

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Step Two -Option Two - Professional Association Websites - American School Counselor Association

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When looking into American School Counselor Association I found a legal and ethical faq page. This page was filled with great discussion questions. The discussion about telling the administration the names of those reported to to Child Protective Services. There is no requirement for counselors to provide the names to administration. Another interesting read was the use of computer software to detect students and potential self-harm. The liability of the school district with the death of a student who the program did not flag the self-harm or was flagged at a time when the school counselor was not contracted such as a weekend period. The liability is weak, but still there causing some concern on whether a school district should even put themselves in the situation to start.

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Step One - Option One - Interview of Jen Ford Step 2

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Step One - Option One - Interview of Jen Ford Step 2

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Speaking with Jen Ford is something done on a casual basis for me as we work together daily. Jen Ford is one of the three counselors on our local high school campus.Some legal issues that we discussed were not only relate directly to our job, but our own finances. Legal impacts affecting the work of a counselor are ensuring that the students are meeting all requirements by law to graduate from our campus. This affects the daily job as she must ensure that students are placed in the correct classes to get the credits needed. The legal need of ensuring students take the courses in the correct order to get credits is also a legal issue that must be navigated by counselors. The legal issue of reporting child abuse is something else that counselors deal with on a weekly basis. At times counselors have to decide is this child abuse based upon the discussion with a student that must be reported. The reporting of abuse is something that is overlooked that we must ensure is occurring for the safety of our students. We discussed the ethical issue o teachers wanting to know what is discussed between the student and counselor. This poses an issue because yes at times the information may be helpful for teachers, but the student is entrusting us with their information to keep private. Another ethical issue is parents that want to know all the information that their child shares, but the child is the client and is allowed the privacy. An employment situation that made Jen worry is the policy our school has on Dual-Credit and Advanced Placement courses. The policy is allowing teachers to decide who is allowed to take the courses and who is not. The Dual-Credit courses worry Jen more than the Advanced Placement courses as our students are required to pay for the Dual-Credit courses. It is the concern of Jen that we could be sued for discrimination for not allowing students who have passed the TSI test and are willing to pay for the course to take a Dual-Credit course because a teacher will not approve them. Jen along with all other counselors in our district have gone to our regional training center for an ethics review each year as part of their professional development. In this training the code of ethics was reviewed and the instructor discussed situations that could arise for counselors and how we should go about navigating the situation. The ethics training is what keeps the counselors up to date and refreshed on ethics. The laws we must update ourselves through different counselor organizations and paying attention to the Senate and House when in session.

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I am working on completing my Masters degree from Angelo State University in order to be a high school guidance counselor. I intend to remain in my current position as Dumas High School Counselor. For the time being this is my ultimate goal. I am very fortunate in that I have already obtained this position while concurrently completing my degree.