The Case for Mandatory Reporting as an Ethical Dilemma for Social Workers (1 credit hour)

Please note:  This is an ethics course and is not intended to meet your mandatory reporting coursework requirements.

Program Summary:  This course offers an analysis of mandated reporting of child abuse in the US using excerpts from social work textbooks.  The course provides a critique of an oversimplified, ‘better safe than sorry’ understanding of mandated reporting and seeks a more nuanced and careful analysis.  Mandated reporting is viewed in the context of deontological ethics, a rules-based ethics, prioritizing rules over consequences, context, and outcomes. The case for mandated reporting as an ethical dilemma for social workers is presented, and the NASW Ethical Standard 1.01 Commitment to Clients is highlighted.

Ethical Standard 1.01 Commitment to Clients

Social workers’ primary responsibility is to promote the well-being of clients. In general, clients’ interests are primary. However, social workers; responsibility to the larger society or specific legal obligations may, on limited occasions, supersede the loyalty owed clients, and clients should be so advised. (Examples include when a social worker is required by law to report that a client has abused a child or has threatened to harm self or others.

This course is recommended for social workers and is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels of practice.  This course is not recommended for NBCC ethics credit.

“Book  Open the Course Reading Here.

Course Reading: The Case for Mandated Reporting as an Ethical Dilemma for Social Workers

Authors:  Sam Harrell and Stephanie Wahab

Publisher:  Advances in Social Work

Course Objectives:  To enhance professional practice, values, skills and knowledge by examining the case for mandated reporting as an ethical dilemma for social workers.

Learning Objectives: Define deontological ethics. Identify the potential consequences for clients related to mandated reporting.  Provide an example of an ethical dilemma related to mandatory reporting.

Review our pre-reading study guide.

Course Available Until: July 31, 2027.

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1: Background: Mandatory reporting laws became a federal funding condition with the passage of
 
 
 
 
2: Damman et al. report that referrals from ________________ are more likely to be screened in, investigated, and substantiated.
 
 
3: Social workers represent one of the most common professions with mandatory reporting obligations, placing communities with closer proximity to social services at _____________ contact with mandatory reporters.
 
 
4: The National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics explains that legal obligations, such as mandatory reporting ____________ supersede social workers' commitment to clients (Ethical Standard 1.01).
 
 
5: Potential consequence of mandatory reporting can include
 
 
 
 
 
6: Theoretical Framework:  Roberts (2002) and Raz (2020) argue that over time the family regulation system's primary function shifted to  _____________.
 
 
7: Findings:  Most textbooks addressed mandatory reporting by offering
 
 
8: Which ethics theory can best be described as applying 'objective' moral rules universally, without attention to context or outcome?
 
 
 
9: Repeatedly, textbooks present mandatory reporting as
 
 
10: Which of the following was not one of the three risk domains identified by textbook authors when discussing failure-to-report?
 
 
 
 

In order to purchase or take this course, you will need to log in. If you do not have an account, you will need to register for a free account.

After you log in, a link will appear here that will allow you to purchase this course.

The Case For Mandatory Reporting as an Ethical Dilemma for Social Workers, Course #4872, is approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by Free State Social Work, LLC as an individual course. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period: 04/18/2023 - 04/18/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 1 ethics continuing education credit.

G.M. Rydberg-Cox, MSW, LSCSW is the Continuing Education Director at Free State Social Work and responsible for the development of this course.  She received her Masters of Social Work in 1996 from the Jane Addams School of Social Work at the University of Illinois-Chicago and she has over 20 years of experience.  She has lived and worked as a social worker in Chicago, Boston, and Kansas City. She has practiced for many years in the area of hospital/medical social work.  The reading materials for this course were developed by another organization.

Course Available Until: July 31, 2027.
Filed under: Ethics