Suspected Child Abuse: Questions Both Lawyers and Psychologists, Therapists and Counselors Consider Before Notifying Child Protective Services
All 50 states and the District of Columbia have enacted statues requiring the reporting of suspected child abuse. Not all state statutes are the same. While all states support the mission to eliminate child abuse, they have enacted very different legislation.
Since I am an Ohio divorce lawyer, I want to focus in this blog on reporting issues that I have seen in my practice pertaining to the obligation for both lawyers and psychologists, therapists and counselors to report suspected child abuse to Child Protective Services (CPS).
Perhaps a good way to illustrate the difference in how a lawyer and therapist must deal with this client/patient is by creating a hypothetical pattern.
HYPOTHETICAL FACT PATTERN:
A divorce client comes into the office and tells me that he believes that his wife has sexually abused their 15-year-old son. He did not actually witness it, but he has recently noticed odd and inappropriate interactions between the two of them. He is extremely troubled by his wife wanting to divorce him and of course by the suspected relationship between his son and wife. … Read More... “In Ohio, Will Your Counselor or Lawyer Report Suspected Child Abuse to Children Protective Services?”