Mandatory Reporting of Adolescent Sex
        Sex In The News 2005

A mandatory reporting rule could harm adolescents. The NASW (The National Association of Social Workers) have joined other organizations in filing a friend-of-the-court brief challenging the state attorney general's opinion requiring all mandated reporters of child abuse in the state to report all sexual activity by minors as abuse.

The case is being heard in the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. Characterizing the attorney general's interpretation of the state's reporting statute as "a dramatic departure from the traditional use and intent of mandatory reporting," the brief argues that the interpretation "will have precisely the opposite effect" of the goal of protecting Kansas adolescents from sexual abuse. "Because the Attorney General's interpretation undermines (if not eliminates) confidentiality in communications between professionals and adolescents, it necessarily harms the adolescents it claims to protect," the brief states.

The brief states, will send two important signals to adolescents: "first, that the State will have unlimited access to their communications regarding sexual behavior, and second, that any professional in whom an adolescent would likely confide cannot be trusted to keep private communications regarding sexual behavior."

"The attorney general's interpretation detrimentally affects the health of adolescents in Kansas in two distinct ways," the brief states. "First, some adolescents, knowing that their sexual behavior will be reported to the state, will avoid or delay seeking services, and second, some adolescents who seek services despite the reporting requirement will not be honest in discussing their sexual behavior with professionals." The brief also notes a concern that adolescents will not fully communicate with mental health professionals.

If the District Court's decision is reversed and the attorney general's interpretation enforced, the unintended consequence will be that the health of adolescents in Kansas, the group the Reporting Statute intends to protect, will be compromised."

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