“It Would’ve Been So Beautiful…If the Hospital Didn’t Have to Tell the Police”: The Incompatibility of Mandatory Reporting Policies and Adolescent Survivors’ Post-Assault Needs

Adolescent sexual assault survivors have myriad post-assault needs. However, if and how they access resources to attend to those needs can be complicated due to their legal status as minors and child abuse mandatory reporting policies. Such policies that require specific entities to be notified when a sexual assault involving a minor has occurred might deter adolescents from seeking post-assault care. However, no studies to date have examined how mandatory reporting laws inform adolescents' post-assault decisions and experiences. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews with twenty-one survivors of adolescent sexual assault in one Northeastern US state, we found that mandatory reporting actively deterred sixteen survivors from seeking formal help; would have deterred two survivors from seeking formal help had they known about it; and was a nonissue for three survivors who chose to seek formal help in an attempt to have very specific needs met. Survivors of adolescent sexual assault had serious concerns about losing agency and control and about unwanted involvement from police, parents, and child protective services. Individual providers, organizations, and whole communities must seriously consider the potential harm of mandatory reporting policies and think creatively and collaboratively alongside adolescent survivors to ensure they can access the care they need and deserve.