Mandated Reporting and Child Welfare Surveillance: Protection or Subordination

With increasing attention to racism embedded in child protective services (CPS) in the United States, mandated reporting laws remain entrenched in historically racist systems and policies. The potential biases of mandated reporters coupled with their failure to consider the sociopolitical and socioeconomic contexts of Black families continue to shape decisions to report and investigate families for possible child abuse and neglect. Black parents avoid interacting with people compelled to report out of an abundance of caution, the threat of professional penalties, or inattention to biases. Employing mixed methods, this phenomenological study design elicited the lived experiences of Black mothers impacted by CPS in the United States. Participants completed a qualitative, voice-recorded electronic survey about the impact of surveillance related to child neglect. Deductive analyses resulted in identified themes related to the impact of mandated reporting.