Failure to Report: When Abuse Hits Primetime (Issues IN THERAPY‪)‬

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The ethical and legal obligation to report known or suspected child abuse is certainly common knowledge among health care professionals. Every state in the United States has statutes pertaining to the reporting of known or suspected child abuse or neglect. Although legislation varies between states, they typically share similar elements, such as a definition of terms and criteria for determining when the threshold for reporting has been met (Child Welfare Information Gateway [CWIG], 2008; CWIG, 2007a). In addition to identifying who is required to report and to whom the report must be made, most include a waiver of privilege (that is, confidentiality and privilege cannot be used as grounds for failing to report) and a grant of immunity (from criminal and civil liability) for the mandatory or voluntary reporting party when the report was made in good faith (CWIG, 2005a).