ENGL 1302Due Friday, November 18McCourtLab Six As.docx
Who Is Responsible
1. Moral Dilemmas Professionals and Parents vs. Child Responsibility Rosemarie Patterson Psychology 492 Argosy University
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Editor's Notes
In this essay, the author will provided an ethical assessment of a case in 2009 in Federal Way, Washington in which involved the rape of a minor by an adult in which a child was conceived and died at birth
Who is responsible for the death of a child, a newborn? Does the responsibility lie on the teenager, her parent or parents, the professionals or do they all share in the responsibility? The problem area is at what age or maturity level does the child legally accepts total responsibility for their own actions? When does the parent assume no responsibility for the behavior of the child? Are we giving professionals and others too much responsibility in not reporting to parents? Are professionals to blame when a child gets pregnant and the parent is not informed? Are we giving children too much responsibility to care for themselves? This concerns the HIPPA Laws, consent of confidentiality, and legal ramifications that could follow a moral dilemma (APA, 2002).
This ethical dilemma of responsibility should stir up questions in the legal and psychological community as cases of infant deaths become more publicized and outrage consumes the American culture. There is a legal case in which a teenager delivers a baby at home without the knowledge of the parent, then the baby dies and 911 is not called in a timely manner. The parent suspected pregnancy but did not follow through medically (Clarridge, 2009). The parent just issued threats of putting teen out of the residence. Should the teen have told her mother about her pregnancy, should the teen called 911, should the doctor perform pregnancy test upon request of mother, should the teen be charged with neglect or should the mother be charged with neglect. Who is responsible for the death of the child: the parent, the teen or the doctor that did not perform the examination? Should this be a shared endeavor? These are ethical dilemmas which could set a precedent for parental and professional responsibility (Clarridge, 2009)..
This paper will explore arguments for five types of responsibility relationships: (1) parental, (2) professional, (3) parent and child, (4) shared responsibility with professional, child and parent, and lastly the (5) Child.
This would bring to the paper that parents are responsible for the children that they protect and adults or professionals have to treat the child as a right bearing human. This should present facts that even though rights are issued, the child still suffers. There is a breakdown between the expressed rights of the child vs. the given rights of the child vs. actuality of the rights being allowed by the adult (Deen, 2009).
Children have rights to fair and equal treatment, food, shelter and clothing can and are not given to a lot of children in the world. The child’s right are demanded to be protected by the parent. Questions are raised are children given too much freedom. Are adults given too much control over the child? When does child responsibility take place (Deen, 2009)? The child has rights and the parents have rights, but the child’s rights are demanded to be protected by the parent, however; in actuality, the state is supreme to the parent, and even though we are progressing, millions of children will still suffer according to Inter Press Service English News Wire. 20 Nov. 2009. Another observation of parent responsibility in the adoption realm, are that adoptive parents just as responsible as birth parents. Are there any differences in parenting skills? This article states that parents are parents regardless of titles (Adoption and parental responsibility, 2004).
Parents need to care about the needs and wants of their children. Children Need Their Parents More Than a Pizza in the Fridge; this is an article that talks about parental responsibility in a Finnish newspaper. The aim of this study is to find constraints and construction of parental responsibility by analyzing letters sent by readers to a newspaper on the topic of parenting and parental responsibility. The study takes a procedural approach, focusing on the meanings of responsibility and looking at different aspects of parenthood.
These dimensions relate to different meanings of parental responsibility for example: responsibility for making choices. Parental responsibility creates norms for evaluating parental behavior, and the boundaries between adults and children (Book & Perala-Littunen, 2008). .
One reference that supported the findings that the professional was protected by confidentiality and informed consent comes from the American Psychological Association. This professional handbook states that professionals have a code of conduct that they must follow to protect their clients which upholds the rights of the child to privacy (APA, 2002). The professional has code of ethics, HIPPA laws, confidentiality rules to follow (APA, 2002). If these guidelines are followed correctly then the professional is protected from liability.
The article from Walton supports the book of Violent Young Children by Glicken in discussing violence within the family until and country putting responsibility of behavior on the parent and child (Walton, 2003). With Success and Satisfaction among Parents with Severe Mental Illness, this article stresses that parents with severe mental illnesses can still parent a child with success and satisfaction. It discusses psychiatric services available. This would explain if a parent having retardation are capable of being competent to parent children and care for their well being. Parent out of control or is it the child? In this article the teenager is suspected to manipulate the mother into overnight stays with her adult boyfriend. What is the reasoning that a parent can not control the child? Does she have the parenting skills necessary to control the teenager or promote positive growth in her home? Is the adult competent to assume responsibility? What age does the child no longer requires the adult to be responsible (Van der Ende, Venderink, and van Busschback, 2010). The aim of this study is to explore the family unit when a child dies. This publication expresses the roles that family members assume when a family member dies. The authors give a mental picture of a family in grief which supports family responsibility (Arnold & Gemma, 1994). The final resource called Ethics across Cultures describes the meaning of ethics and how researchers have to be prepared to explain in different cultures what one does may not be acceptable in another culture. The culture would be parents vs. child, child vs. parents. In this text the rights of humans are explored. This information would contain information that there is a code of ethics for each culture which are governed by boundaries. The aim of this material is to explore parental and children boundaries and the responsibility for the professional to protect the rights of their clients. This would involve informed consent and HIPPA laws that govern client confidentiality. This would bring into view human rights issues, and child protection laws and children’s advocacy (Brannigan, 2005). Are there boundaries between responsibility? Should boundaries be explored by the psychological community of the legal community? Human rights issues and child protection laws should they be questioned? How about the HIPPA laws: should they protect everyone even an unborn child? Are the informed consent, HIPPA laws and confidentiality be broadened to include responsibility boundaries of parent, child and professional? Are client rights too constrictive? Should we revisit confidentiality when an unborn child is involved? (APA, 2002).
Book written by M. D. Glicken will shed light on what happens to children raised in a home without rules, and responsibilities. What is a major influence that brings children to hide information from parents, adults and professionals? This book explains behavior of the child, and the adult in a home that produces violent young children. It produces case studies of children with mental problems. It produces Case studies of violent children and what type of environment feeds violence. This book explains the causes of teenage violence and the need to hurt others. The plight against healthy relationships when a parent violates boundaries with their child, and when there are no boundaries for the child to respect (Glicken, 2004).
A teenager becomes an adult when impregnated? How about the Peruvian Five year old child that gave birth, was she considered an adult also? Do we need to revisit child protection laws? The child becomes an adult when impregnated and will assume responsibility of conceived child (Washington State Institute for Public Policy 1996). According to the research it appears that the parent and child share responsibility and the professional is protected from the responsibility. But according to my personal findings, with the medical community once the child becomes impregnated she becomes an adult no matter what her age, she signs her own medical forms for treatment, and the HIPPA laws regarding informed consent and confidentiality are enforced. Therefore, the child who is now deemed an adult is responsible for the protection of their own unborn child that is conceived. The adult is now a parent whom is governed by the laws of society which are outlined by the legal system, and Child Protective Services (Washington State Institute for Public Policy, 1996). The child has rights and the parents have rights, but the child’s rights are demanded to be protected by the parent according to Inter Press Service English News Wire. 20 Nov. 2009.
The aim for this writing of Moral Dilemmas would be to explain the dilemma that people face when faced with moral dilemmas (McConnell, 2010). This writing would bring into play the moral dilemma that the teenager was facing before and after she delivered her child. Should she tell her mother about the pregnancy? If she did then her mother would kick her out of the house. Would it be simpler to get rid of the baby instead? Perhaps the father would take the baby, or suppose he wouldn’t. What am I suppose to do? Or the teen could have thought abortion would settle the dilemma, or perhaps it was too late for abortion. Or the teen could have thought if she does nothing, then it will all disappears. The pregnancy test stated I was not pregnant so therefore I am not. So I will do nothing. Child is born what should I do? Adopt the baby out, rear this child, or annihilate the child? This writing will convey the thoughts that incur a moral dilemma whether it is ethical or moral the dilemma is real and it exists This report supports shared responsibility of parent and child (McConnell, 2010).
The case involving a teenage girl of Federal Way is yet to be solved. Lifetime on television on July 17, 2010, aired a movie similar to the Federal Way case in which the girl did not tell anybody about her pregnancy. The baby was born in a bathroom stall and out of fear she suffocated her baby to keep it silenced. She was sixteen at the time and was found guilty of not protecting her child and had to serve five years in juvenile detention (Lifetime Movie Network. 2010). Similar case, but there is a twist in the Federal Way case: this teenager is biracial, and thirteen when she became pregnant, and was not at the age of consent to have sex. She was raped, and came from a violent home environment. Is she to be held accountable for the death of her child? (Clarridge, 2009). Her competency to stand trial has come into play, one psychologist states she is competent and the other states she is incompetent, how is it possible for two professionals to disagree (Vera & Speight 2003).
Will competency, worldwide multi- culturism, violent environment, and even having a mentally impaired parent save her from the fate of the sixteen year old? What about the father of the baby, is he responsible? Is responsibility measured different between males and females. Is responsibility different among ethnicities? The professional has code of ethics, HIPPA laws, confidentiality rules to follow, and the informed consent, but the parent is basically an uncontrollable entity unless placed in check through observation or findings of violations to children’s rights by the State or its agencies (Child Protective Services, Teachers, Medical professionals, police, and legal system) (APA, 2002).
What I have garnered from the references is that there is no set boundary between parent and child responsibility (Glicken, 2004). The quest for answers continues with these additional important questions that could be used for further research for Clinical and Behavioral Psychologists in finding answers for responsibility of child vs. parent, and establishing boundaries (Vera & Speight 2003).
Additional research into past cases need to be presented as verification of existence of the need to set boundaries as to responsibility of child and parent. This paper raises questions as to whether or not we have shifted responsibility that belongs to the parent to the professionals. Therefore giving professionals the right to not disclose pertinent information to the parent concerning their child. Questions raised as to how can parents provide parental guidance when professionals can limit their liability due to the fact of informed consents signed by the child to prohibit information from getting to the parent. Have we as professionals created a moral and ethical dilemma by withholding evidence per se? More research is required to substantiate this report. Rosemarie Patterson, August 2010 Spanaway Washington Argosy University [email_address]
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