Developmental trauma
You brought several great points regarding the agencies that work with the children after a report has been made. While I would like to think that the department or agency is trying to protect the child, I do feel like they make promises to the child(ren) that they cannot keep. I am currently supervising visits with a family and the oldest child, 16 yr old, told me just last week that her worker promised her that they would be home in 6 months. It has been 9 months and there is no sign of reunification. As a mandated report, that is the one thing that is stressed in trainings, do not make promises to the child that you cannot keep. Do not even hint that they will not have to go back into the environment. With the overwhelming calls that are made to the hotline and the limited number of investigators that are available that child child may have to return to the home where the abuse is happening until an investigation can be made. I also know that unless the caregiver reports the abuse it is hard to support them because the child maybe fearful in telling the non-offending person what is going on. You are not wrong in saying that they need to feel supported as well. From a personal perspective when I revealed to my non-offending caregiver what had happened to me I was straight up called a liar and that the parent would never do that. I take that into account when a child comes to me and reports abuse. This is such a hot topic of debate that we could rounds but in the end, it is the child that we need to protect. Going back to my personal experience, how would you handle the situation if a non-offending caregiver discounted the child’s disclosure of abuse?
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