1- Counselors have to tell the parents if the child is under 15 years old. (The counselor is not really telling the parents. I am explaining this point on amendment number 3). My point behind this argument is that at the age 14 most of the brain’s capacity and maturity is developed. Thus, at age 15, the youth has more support within oneself to deal with hardships. If I was an extremist I would say that this age is 18 years old, instead of 14. My reasoning for that is that to be considered an adult you have to be 18 years old for some matters, and 21 for others. If my child is not an adult yet, he/she can’t respond legally for hers/his actions, or to whatever problems they could face. At the end, the parents have to deal with the consequences of their actions, as well as to deal with whatever they are involved with. This is the main reason, that in my opinion, the whole issue about keeping the youth’s privacy is wrong.
2- If the child meets the category above, the counselor has to make a study involving the affected family. This means a lot of work and responsibilities to the counselor. The professional will have to make a study of the culture, religion, relationship between the parents and the child, and child and other siblings, if this is the case. After the analysis, the professional is responsible for making a decision about telling or not telling the parents. The first thing that the professional has to have in mind is the well being of his/hers patient. The decision of telling the parents should only help to improve the family’s relationship and healing process of the youth. If after careful considerations the professional determines that telling the parents will harm the patient, in any possible way, don’t tell the parents.
3- After deciding that to tell the parents is on the best interest of the child, the counselor will facilitate sessions where the child and parents will work on developing a better relationship and on building trust among them. It is obvious that if a child faces such a horrific event, and decides not to tell his/hers parents, this family has a serious issue about trust. This sometimes, is a long and costly process. But the final goal is to have better integrated and happier families.
I support this law with three amendments:
ReplyDelete1- Counselors have to tell the parents if the child is under 15 years old. (The counselor is not really telling the parents. I am explaining this point on amendment number 3). My point behind this argument is that at the age 14 most of the brain’s capacity and maturity is developed. Thus, at age 15, the youth has more support within oneself to deal with hardships. If I was an extremist I would say that this age is 18 years old, instead of 14. My reasoning for that is that to be considered an adult you have to be 18 years old for some matters, and 21 for others. If my child is not an adult yet, he/she can’t respond legally for hers/his actions, or to whatever problems they could face. At the end, the parents have to deal with the consequences of their actions, as well as to deal with whatever they are involved with.
This is the main reason, that in my opinion, the whole issue about keeping the youth’s privacy is wrong.
2- If the child meets the category above, the counselor has to make a study involving the affected family. This means a lot of work and responsibilities to the counselor. The professional will have to make a study of the culture, religion, relationship between the parents and the child, and child and other siblings, if this is the case. After the analysis, the professional is responsible for making a decision about telling or not telling the parents. The first thing that the professional has to have in mind is the well being of his/hers patient. The decision of telling the parents should only help to improve the family’s relationship and healing process of the youth.
If after careful considerations the professional determines that telling the parents will harm the patient, in any possible way, don’t tell the parents.
3- After deciding that to tell the parents is on the best interest of the child, the counselor will facilitate sessions where the child and parents will work on developing a better relationship and on building trust among them. It is obvious that if a child faces such a horrific event, and decides not to tell his/hers parents, this family has a serious issue about trust. This sometimes, is a long and costly process. But the final goal is to have better integrated and happier families.
Thank you,
Maggie Souza