Making reporting of child abuse a legal requirement could place children at risk of harm by “overwhelming” local authority children’s services departments, the government has warned.
Home Office minister Michael Bates, a Conservative peer, made the claim in a letter to Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Walmsley, who has tabled an amendment to the Serious Crime Bill, currently going through parliament, to have mandatory reporting made law.
Bates said there are “mixed opinions” as to whether mandatory reporting requirements result in better protection of children.
He added that research is “inconclusive” in determining whether it helps, hinders, or makes no difference to the safety of children.
“In the USA, Australia and Canada, mandatory reporting legislation has been accompanied by significant increases in the number of referrals of suspected child abuse and neglect made to the authorities, a large percentage of which are not substantiated,” Bates said in the letter, intended to outline the government’s current thinking on the matter.
“Whilst introducing a reporting obligation could lead to better protection of children by alerting authorities, who could act to safeguard the child, there are risks that by extending the duty widely, the numbers of referrals increase to such an extent that social services are overwhelmed and, as a result, children are inadvertently placed at risk.”
Bates added that while it is a “very complex issue”, consideration of the matter “continues to be a priority for the government”.
Baroness Walmsley’s amendment is due to be debated in the House of Lords tomorrow (14 October).
She tabled the amendment in July after Prime Minister David Cameron said that while “it may well be time” to make it illegal not to report abuse, any legislation would be postponed until the conclusion of the government’s inquiry into historical child abuse, being chaired by Fiona Woolf.
Walmsley said the delay amounted to “kicking the issue beyond the election and into the long grass”.
Last week’s Liberal Democrat conference saw the party adopt support of mandatory reporting of abuse as official policy.
At last month’s Labour conference, shadow children’s minister Steve McCabe said any plans to introduce a mandatory requirement to report child abuse should only apply to senior staff rather than junior workers.
McCabe, a former social worker himself, said he would be supportive of a change in the law but doesn’t want it to apply to lower-level children’s sector staff.
Source: CYPnow
