A reporting and response model for culture and child maltreatment

As our society becomes increasingly culturally diverse, there is a growing concern in the mental health field as to whether clinicians are able to accurately distinguish different cultural parenting discipline practices from child maltreatment. Clinicians in various fields continue to differ on what is reportable. Although there is literature describing characteristics of various ethnic minority groups, there are limited data to support why clinicians do what they do and no decision-making model to guide a clinician's reporting behavior when working with clients from different cultures. This article focuses on cultural discipline practices rather than healing practices (e.g., coining) that may be challenging to assess. The authors propose a model to guide clinicians through the decision-making process and discuss interventions and clinical responses that may be most appropriate when presented with different scenarios involving cultural parenting discipline practices and child maltreatment. Finally, limitations of the presented model along with future clinical and research directions are discussed.