Ethical and Legal Considerations When Counselling Children and Families

TLDR: In this paper, the authors discuss the legal and ethical concerns that clinicians should consider when counseling children, adolescents, and their families, such as informed consent, types of confidentiality, exceptions and reporting issues, sharing information revealed to the practitioner to parents, and subpoenas.

Abstract: There are numerous unique legal and ethical concerns that clinicians should consider when counselling children, adolescents, and their families. These, however, are not generally emphasised in most ethics courses in graduate training programs. While ethical codes vary among professional organisations (e.g., marriage and family therapy, counselling, social work, psychology), this article addresses many subjects that are common across disciplines, such as (1) informed consent, (2) types of confidentiality, exceptions, and reporting issues, (3) sharing information revealed to the practitioner to parents, and (4) subpoenas. Other important topics are the importance of counsellor competencies, multicultural considerations, and special topics including the use of touch and the role of the professional in divorce situations. Additionally, the role of computing and social media can enhance relationships for children, or be sources of stress or trauma. Lastly, laws, which typically supersede ethical codes often vary from state to state and nation to nation, and it is imperative that clinicians are cognisant of those in their jurisdiction.