Making Sense of Mandatory Reporting: A Qualitative Study of Reporting Practices from the Perspectives of Schools and Child Welfare Services in Sweden

Hanna Dahlberg, Evelyn Khoo and Viktoria Skoog
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Hanna Dahlberg: Department of Social Work, Umeå University, SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden
Evelyn Khoo: Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, SE-41123 Gothenburg, Sweden
Viktoria Skoog: FoU Västernorrland (Research and Development Unit for the Social Services in the County of Västernorrland), SE-87145 Härnösand, Sweden

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: Schools play an important role in ensuring the well-being of children, although the process of mandatory reporting of concern for children is not widely understood. This qualitative focus group study investigated the process from the perspectives of school and child welfare service professionals. Using theories of human service organizations and professional discretion, we analyzed viewpoints on an individual duty being handled by an organization. We investigated the expectations that a report be simultaneously simple and value-free, while providing depth and clear examples of concerns. Finally, we investigated the views of the supportive and protective functions supposedly underlying the duty to report. The results indicated problems associated with a collective reporting process. Ambiguity in how information in a report is communicated may also contribute to a more problematic reporting process from schools and then in interpretations and the follow up reports made by social workers.

Keywords: reporting practices; child maltreatment; teacher; social worker; child protection; child welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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