JUDICIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF REPORTING ADOLESCENT ABUSE

Adolescent victims of abuse or neglect are regularly reported to socia l agencies and legal authorities. However, decisions following reports often remain unknown, leaving the question of the reporting's relevan ce open. Population and methods. - Forty-one consecutive written repor ts sent to child protective services were reviewed, and their content analysed. These services were then contacted by telephone, in order to gather information on outcome. Results. - Forty-one reports concerned 40 adolescents (32 girls, 8 boys); 36 of whom had been admitted to ou r adolescent medicine ward. The most common reason for admission was a suicide attempt (20 cases). Thirty-nine reports were destined to lega l authorities, while two to social agencies. The reason for reporting was physical or sexual abuse in more than half of the cases. In twenty -five cases, the main request was a separation from the family. Eighte en adolescents were lost from our medical follow-up after reporting. T hirty-two reports to legal authorities had led to a hearing by a juven ile and family court judge. When our main request was a separation fro m the family, the judge answered favorably in two-thirds of the cases, after a mean period of 26 days. All the subjects for whom a separatio n from the family was not requested in the report remained at home. Co nclusion. - A simple telephone call is enough to gather information ab out the following of reports and enables an evaluation of the relevanc y of its requests. The interface between the health care and legal sys tems needs improving through better coordination. Pediatricians should be leaders in this field.