Mental health worker who reported child porn fired

mysticweed

damn
do the right thing?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45222798/ns/us_news-life/

MISSOULA, Mont. — An employee of a Missoula mental health center who reported a client's computer search for child pornography was fired after reporting him to police.
The client, John Gribble, is charged with sexually abusing a child after a DVD with photos of nude children was found at his house.

The Missoulian reported Wednesday that an employee of Three Rivers Mental Health Solutions contacted police about Gribble on Oct. 17.

The employee first told her supervisors, who told her not to report Gribble. Three Rivers administrator Shea Hennelly says reports that break medical confidentiality must include the names and address of the child involved and the extent of the child's injuries.

"In order to provide mental health services, we can't engage in dual roles. We're not allowed to go to police" unless actual child abuse is observed, Hennelly told The Missoulian. "She didn't witness someone abusing a child. What this woman reported to this office was she saw the tab of Web browsers that said teenage girls.
That's a lot different."

The employee was concerned about two young girls that Gribble babysat, but she did not know their names.

PJ88

Wow! I would think that mental health workers would be mandated reporters. To be fired for doing the right/moral thing is outrageous. Thank god that she did report it.

adam42381

So she saw a search that said teenage girls and reported it to the police? From my understanding, 18 and 19 year olds are both teenagers and legal adults. Of course there could have been something shady going on, but I'd say that's pretty week evidence of child pornography.

Johnny Abruzzo

adam42381 wrote:

So she saw a search that said teenage girls and reported it to the police? From my understanding, 18 and 19 year olds are both teenagers and legal adults. Of course there could have been something shady going on, but I'd say that's pretty week evidence of child pornography.

Yeah, kind of sounds like a witch hunt actually.

comebackgirl

PJ88 wrote:

Wow! I would think that mental health workers would be mandated reporters. To be fired for doing the right/moral thing is outrageous. Thank god that she did report it.

We are...but because our communications are privileged, we walk a fine line of when we can break confidentiality and when we can't. It's not a fun place to be caught in most of the time.

stargirl69

comebackgirl wrote:

PJ88 wrote:

Wow! I would think that mental health workers would be mandated reporters. To be fired for doing the right/moral thing is outrageous. Thank god that she did report it.

We are...but because our communications are privileged, we walk a fine line of when we can break confidentiality and when we can't. It's not a fun place to be caught in most of the time.

I work in child protection,regularly closely with mental health workers.When I began this career (20+ years ago) I was stunned to discover that their clients/patients confidentiality could be taken into consideration over the safety of a child.
Then our legislation changed and by law everyone must disclose any confidential information that would indicate a child could be at risk.

I think it is right that this worker raised concern,even if it did end up being confirmed that the images were possibly of over 18's,I would say it is best to be vigilant rather than complacent.It is disgusting she lost her job.

comebackgirl

stargirl69 wrote:

comebackgirl wrote:

PJ88 wrote:

Wow! I would think that mental health workers would be mandated reporters. To be fired for doing the right/moral thing is outrageous. Thank god that she did report it.

We are...but because our communications are privileged, we walk a fine line of when we can break confidentiality and when we can't. It's not a fun place to be caught in most of the time.

I work in child protection,regularly closely with mental health workers.When I began this career (20+ years ago) I was stunned to discover that their clients/patients confidentiality could be taken into consideration over the safety of a child.
Then our legislation changed and by law everyone must disclose any confidential information that would indicate a child could be at risk.

I think it is right that this worker raised concern,even if it did end up being confirmed that the images were possibly of over 18's,I would say it is best to be vigilant rather than complacent.It is disgusting she lost her job.

yeah the laws here still vary state by state. It is the most horrific thing to be told something and be bound not to do anything about it. I've only had that happen once, but was able to support the client in making a report herself. So much better to make it clear cut, no exceptions. Too much gray area is not a good thing and makes the mental health worker an easy scapegoat.

stargirl69

comebackgirl wrote:

yeah the laws here still vary state by state. It is the most horrific thing to be told something and be bound not to do anything about it. I've only had that happen once, but was able to support the client in making a report herself. So much better to make it clear cut, no exceptions. Too much gray area is not a good thing and makes the mental health worker an easy scapegoat.

I agree,the mental health workers are often the target so bound by the role they have with the client/patient.Brilliant that you were able to support your client with her making her own report.

Career's working with vulnerable groups whether adults with mental well-being issues or children at potential risk are both at times an ethical,moral and emotional minefield

Go Beavers

I work in the field, too. The grey area situation aren't fun, but an internet search doesn't constitute an immediate risk or threat of harm, so it's a pretty clear cut situation and the firing is valid. Interesting that the person went over the supervisors head after consultation.

mickeyrat

And in the end this guy was found to have a copy of a selfmade dvd showing him abusing young girls. Uhhh, sorry this was justified in my opinion for the worker to report this. Also the spokesperson is not saying the worker reported quote xyz unquote just their interpretation of what was reported. There seems to be much more of this story missing.

Go Beavers

mickeyrat wrote:

And in the end this guy was found to have a copy of a selfmade dvd showing him abusing young girls. Uhhh, sorry this was justified in my opinion for the worker to report this. Also the spokesperson is not saying the worker reported quote xyz unquote just their interpretation of what was reported. There seems to be much more of this story missing.

Of course there is more to the story, but with the info given, it still was unethical and a violation of confidentiality. Maybe the person who reported it felt like it was a gamble and went for it. We don't know the person's motivations, though. In the isolated incident, it likely saved future victims, in the larger scope of the profession, confidentiality breeches have ripple effects that are less discernible, but definitely negative. And there is the grey area of our profession.

comebackgirl

mickeyrat wrote:

And in the end this guy was found to have a copy of a selfmade dvd showing him abusing young girls. Uhhh, sorry this was justified in my opinion for the worker to report this. Also the spokesperson is not saying the worker reported quote xyz unquote just their interpretation of what was reported. There seems to be much more of this story missing.

We need an identifiable victim to break confidentiality and in this case the worker didn't know about one based on the vague internet info.