Australian nurses and child protection: practices and pitfalls

Most Australian states have child protection legislation mandating individuals and groups to notify suspected child abuse and neglect. Nurses are legally bound to report their suspicions of child abuse and neglect in a number of Australian states, with South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania specifically identifying nurses as mandated notifiers. While the unique role of nurses puts them in a valuable position to detect and report suspected child abuse, aspects of the role may lead to conflict in detecting and notifying child abuse and neglect. This paper addresses some key practice issues for Australian nurses as mandated notifiers. These issues include: knowledge and education about child protection; organisational influences on nurses' participation in child protection; concerns about consequences of suspecting and notifying; protecting the therapeutic relationship; and interaction with other professionals.