Should It Be Mandatory To Report Suspected Child Abuse? (Great Britain)

This is an op-ed piece that addresses a mandatory child-abuse reporting campaign in Great Britain.

The campaign for new legislation – dubbed the ‘Daniel Pelka’ law – has been led by Mandate Now, a coalition of charities representing survivors of childhood abuse. A petition has so far gained almost 95,000 signatures, while a poll last month revealed a majority of adults in favour of a change in the law.

Now the children’s commissioner for England and Wales has lent her support to the campaign, adding her voice to that of the former chief prosecutor for England and Wales, who last month called for failure to report suspicions to be made a criminal offence.

While this would bring the U.K. into line with countries including the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Spain and the Republic of Ireland, the U.K. government has so far been resistant to the move, arguing that there is no evidence that mandatory reporting protects children.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2013/12/31/should-it-be-mandatory-to-report-suspected-child-abuse/