Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Laws: Understanding Interests, Understanding Policy.

This article focuses on the interests of the persons involved in the child abuse and neglect reporting process— the child, the accused, and the family members of the child and of the accused; physicians, psychologists, therapists, private agency and hospital social workers, educators, and other professionals; law enforcement officers, state social service workers, lawyers, and judges; and legislators. With this focus, the article illuminates the rationales and explicit and implicit policy choices reflected in the legislation's reporting requirements and processes. Such insight is necessary to a critical review of existing legislation and future improvements in the practical operation of reporting law legislation. This article demonstrates that the interaction of these interests is complex and often creates competing concerns and goals. This article concludes that efforts should be made to better harmonize these interests in future legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]