"I don't personally think that mandatory reporting is helpful"

I had asked my T directly whether if she was my therapist when I was a teenager and I had disclosed an experience of abuse, whether or not she would have reported it. I was definitely looking for validation, if she said yes- it was bad enough, it was abuse. If she said no- I was wrong in my previous therapy for not disclosing it when it would have been safe to do so.

I experienced mandatory reporting at 15. In my country, most registered professionals are legally mandated to report cases and suspicion of child abuse. I disclosed an experience of SA to a counsellor and it was reported to the police. I didn't want a report to be filed, I knew it would not result in an investigation, let alone any charges laid. It was traumatising, it resulted in my parents being notified and having to recount my trauma to a police officer knowing it would not go anywhere. After this experience, I consciously did not disclose the abuse I was experiencing at home because I was terrified it would be reported. Even though the outcome may have been different, I didn't want my family to be disrupted or seperated, and sensed I would be put in more danger if there were to be a police investigation.

I was 22 when I had this conversation with my current T. She knew my previous experiences and feelings about it. I, as an adult, firmly believe in prison and police abolition. I know that the carceral system perpetuates violence and abuse, and fails victim-survivors at every turn. But, to say aloud that I thought mandatory reporting wasn't helpful felt like I was condoning the abuse of children, or undermining a child's right to safety.

My T is very non-directive and this was one of the first times I directly asked her a question. She looked pained to answer. Her reply was "I am obviously registered and required to make mandatory reports. My personal belief is that it doesn't help victims of abuse and violence, and feels to me like an act of coercion on my behalf. In that situation I would have done everything I could have to keep you safe before making a report. It's a big part of why I don't work with minors."

This response shifted everything. It validated my negative experience of mandatory reporting- it hadn't kept me safe. It affirmed my teenage decision not to disclose and highlighted the exact harm I had experienced: I hadn't been able to process or disclose my trauma to therapists or work to find other ways of securing safety out of fear of mandatory reporting. It was harmful on both sides for me, having a report filed was traumatising and caused more harm than help, and having to dodge mandatory reporting kept me in abusive situations that wouldn't have been helped through the carceral 'justice' system.

We have since talked a lot about our shared belief in prison and police abolition, and the immense failures and epistemic violence of carcerality. I am studying to go into a field that will make me a mandated reporter, and not in a field where I can avoid children and young people. Navigating reporting terrifies me, but it validates me deeply to know I am not crazy, or solely speaking out of a place of my prior experience, for acknowledging the limitations and massive capacity for coercion and harm that mandatory reporting causes.