California Child Abuse Assessment and Reporting

This course meets BBS and BOP requirements for 7 CE hours on assessing and reporting child abuse in California. Topics include clinical presentations of abuse, reporting rules, the reporting process, and common questions. 7 hours CE

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Course Description

This course trains psychotherapists and other mandated reporters on California’s legal requirements for child abuse reporting for mandated reporters. Topics include the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA); forms of abuse including sexual abuse, neglect, willful cruelty/unjustifiable punishment, physical abuse including corporal punishment, and abuse in out-of-home care; clinical presentation and assessment; common questions; what happens after the report; and possible consequences of failing to report. Case examples provide useful illustrations of legal and assessment principles in practice.

7 hours CE. Recorded Video Format (non-interactive)

This course meets California BBS and BOP requirements for 7 hours of CE in Child Abuse Assessment and Reporting prior to licensure.

Content advisory: This course includes specific discussion and descriptions of various forms of child abuse and neglect, including physical and sexual abuse. To protect confidentiality, case examples may include fictionalized elements.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

Define “reasonable suspicion” in the context of California child abuse reporting
Identify two potential consequences of failure to report suspected child abuse
Differentiate abusive from non-abusive forms of physical discipline according to state law
Complete the state form for reporting suspected child abuse at the proper level of detail
Describe two common treatments for victims of child abuse

Course Outline

1. Context

a. Prevalence of abuse

b. Why mandated reporting exists

2. Types of abuse

3. Assessing abuse

a. Physical and behavioral signs

b. Assessment techniques

4. Reporting abuse

a. Reporting process

b. Common questions

c. Failure to report

5. After the report

a. Investigation and action

b. Clinical repair

c. Treatment of child abuse

6. Case examples

References

Instructor

Benjamin Caldwell, PsyD, LMFT

Benjamin Caldwell, PsyD is a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (#42723). He currently serves as adjunct faculty for California State University Northridge in Los Angeles. He has taught at the graduate level for more than 15 years, primarily in Law and Ethics, and has written and trained extensively on ethical applications in mental health care. In addition to serving a three-year term on the AAMFT Ethics Committee, Dr. Caldwell served as the Chair of the Legislative and Advocacy Committee for AAMFT-California for 10 years. He served as Editor for the Users Guide to the 2015 AAMFT Code of Ethics, Chair of the workgroup that developed Best Practices in the Online Practice of Couple and Family Therapy, and author of several books, including Saving Psychotherapy and Basics of California Law for LMFTs, LPCCs, and LCSWs.

Basics of California Law is used at graduate programs around California and addresses therapists’ legal responsibilities and clinical options with high-risk clients. Dr. Caldwell authored the entry on “No Harm Contracts” in the Encyclopedia of Family Therapy (spoiler alert: do a Safety Plan instead). Since 2013, Dr. Caldwell has served as a consultant to the Self-Injury Institute in Los Angeles, assisting with research and supervision surrounding risk assessment and intervention, ethical compliance, and evidence-based practice in the family-based treatment of self-injury.

Additional Information

Format and Length:

Recorded video format (non-interactive). Total running time 7 hours, 3 minutes.

Progress is saved after each lesson section so you can complete the course in multiple sittings. Please note that if you leave the course in the middle of a video, quiz, or survey section you may be required to start that section from the beginning.

Topic Area:

Clinical Practice; Law and Ethics

Instructional Level:

Intermediate

Completion Requirements:

To obtain your CE certificate, you must progress through all course segments, complete a satisfaction survey, and obtain a score of 80% or higher on a course completion quiz. Learners are expected to complete the quiz within a reasonable number of attempts, and may be blocked from completing the course and receiving their certificate if unable to do so.

Completion Quiz and Course Evaluation:

After watching course videos, the course completion quiz will be available to complete, followed by the course evaluation.

Who Should Attend:

Psychologists, counselors, masters or doctoral level clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists practicing in California or planning to do so in the future.

Publication and Review Dates:

Course Published: September 21, 2021

Financial Support Statement:

SimplePractice pays course presenters for their teaching. There is no other financial support for this course.

Conflict of Interest Statement:

There is no potential conflict of interest or outside commercial support for this course.

Refund Policy:

Click here to see our policies on attendance, refunds, grievances, and accessibility, and other frequently asked questions. Click here to contact us or submit a grievance.

Contact Information:

For any inquiries related to subject matter guidance, correction, grading, comments, or problem resolution please contact us.

System Requirements:

Please ensure your device meets our system requirements.

Continuing Education Approvals:

SimplePractice is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. SimplePractice maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This course provides 7 hours of continuing education (7 CE credits) for psychologists.

SimplePractice is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LPCCs, LCSWs, and LEPs (CAMFT CEPA provider #145276). SimplePractice maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This course meets the qualifications for 7 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.

This course is not part of our continuing education program offered under NBCC, ASWB-ACE, Florida, or New York approvals.

This course is not part of our continuing education program approved through NAADAC. Click here to view our complete CE approval information, or check out our collection of NAADAC approved courses.