I write in response to the article by Peter Jenkins (‘Children at risk: a confidential space’) in the May issue of Therapy Today. I believe that it is a counsellor’s duty of care to children/young people to report child protection issues. Counsellors may not always have all of the relevant information regarding the child/young person’s circumstances or whether there may be others at risk, and cannot make an adequate judgment that the child/young person or others are not at risk of harm. Child protection teams have the expertise to judge whether the child/young person or others may be at risk. They may have evidence of historical disclosure and other information that can substantiate the child/young person’s story. My experience of child protection officers is that they are sensitive, and rather than go in all guns blazing, take a low-key approach.

Counsellors are either misguided or arrogant if they believe that they are only doing what is best for the child/young person, and by not reporting child protection issues are colluding in a serious crime. It is only by studying the psychology of perpetrators that we are able to understand that they do not stop at abusing one child and that the more they are able to be left unchecked, the more they will continue and, in many cases, become more intense and aggressive in their pursuit.

In my work with adult survivors, almost everyone has expressed the wish that someone had noticed the signals that they were giving for help. Further to this, they articulate concerns for others who may have been in contact with their perpetrator. Many of these perpetrators may still be at large. I would encourage counsellors to make a contract with their children/young people that leaves them in no doubt of their limitations regarding confidentiality; then there can be no breach of trust. 

Mary Rodgers
Service Manager