In most states clergy (along with doctors, therapists, etc.) are classified as mandated reporters when it comes to child abuse. The protection of the minor trumps the clergy-confessor relationship.
I know that was the case for chaplains in the military, a requirement to report. But most of us chaplains realized that the confidentiality was the only reason people would self-report. Obviously, if you know you’re going to get reported, for the most part you won’t talk to anyone.
Many chaplains ignored that must report provision, and particularly Catholic Chaplains for whom the confession, iirc, is a sacrament.
If there is no safe place to disclose, then folks won’t disclose.
Before counseling with anyone, I would always tell them straight up what I would and what I would not disclose. That put it in their ballpark.
That's interesting, if true, but I suspect it's not. I don't see how it would work, in any case. Isn't the "mandated reporter" class tied to professional licensing? If a doctor fails, his license is revoked.
The State has no power to revoke the license of a Priest.
I went and looked up the law in my state, Washington. Here is the list of mandatory reporters directly from our DHS Web Site:
Who is Required to Report Child Abuse and Neglect?The Mandatory Reporter's Video (see links to the video in the box on the right side of this page) provides guidance for those who are required by state law to report child abuse or neglect.
Any person who has cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect should report such incidents.
Those people legally required to report child abuse or neglect are:
- Medical practitioners
- Nurses
- Dentists
- Social service counselors/therapists
- Psychologists
- Medical examiners
- Pharmacists
- School personnel
- Child care providers
- Law enforcement officers
- Juvenile probation officers
- Corrections employees
- DSHS employees
- Placement and liaison specialists
- Responsible living skills program staff
- HOPE center staff
- State family and children's ombudsman
- Any volunteer in the ombudsman's office
- Adults residing with child suspected to have been severely abused
It sort of seems like priests and pastors *should* be on the list, but they are not, probably for the reason I cited.
Oregon does list Pastors as required reporters, but then carves out an exception for them, and for lawyers!
419B.010 Duty of officials to report child abuse; exceptions; penalty. (1) Any public or private official having reasonable cause to believe that any child with whom the official comes in contact has suffered abuse or that any person with whom the official comes in contact has abused a child shall immediately report or cause a report to be made in the manner required in ORS 419B.015. Nothing contained in ORS 40.225 to 40.295 or 419B.234 (6) affects the duty to report imposed by this section, except that a psychiatrist, psychologist, member of the clergy, attorney or guardian ad litem appointed under ORS 419B.231 is not required to report such information communicated by a person if the communication is privileged under ORS 40.225 to 40.295 or 419B.234 (6). An attorney is not required to make a report under this section by reason of information communicated to the attorney in the course of representing a client if disclosure of the information would be detrimental to the client.
Again, it *seems* like what you asserted should be correct, but it's not. At least not where I live.
Have any counter examples? Maybe it's an East Coast thing, they seem to favor the new rights of the State of long established civil rights of the people, so I'd sort of expect "no exceptions" out there.