When Protection Becomes Punishment

"These parents were not 'noncompliant,' but frightened and confused. The parents, who were Black, recounted past experiences of untreated pain, missed diagnoses, and delayed treatment. They understandably feared for their child's life. But once their questions were answered and their fears validated, they consented. Their child did well. No CPS report was filed."

"In the years since, I've witnessed similar situations: providers jumping straight to reporting rather than helping families overcome the obstacles they face. These stories, to me, reveal a deeper problem: providers' fundamental misunderstandings about what mandated reporting is, what it does, and who it harms."

"Mandated reporting instructional materials typically focus on how to file reports and the legal and licensure penalties for failing to do so. These trainings rarely acknowledge how CPS can function less like help and more like policing, especially for families navigating racism, poverty, or disability."

A psychiatrist describes encountering a Black family with a hospitalized preschooler whose parents were labeled noncompliant for questioning surgical necessity. Rather than reporting them to Child Protective Services, the clinician engaged with their legitimate concerns rooted in past medical discrimination and trauma. Once their fears were validated and questions answered, the parents consented to treatment. This experience revealed how mandated reporting trainings focus narrowly on filing procedures and legal penalties while ignoring how the child protective system functions as a policing mechanism, particularly for families experiencing racism, poverty, or disability. Standard trainings rarely address racialized overreporting or the harms of exposing children to carceral systems.

Read at Psychology Today