Speak Out OCTOBER 2021 DIGITAL EDITION

Working with separated parents

The topic of working with separated parents is one that comes up frequently for Speech Pathology Australia members. Below are some common scenarios and factors to consider if you were to find yourself working with separated parents. Speech Pathology Australia Members are also able to access FAQ’s about working with parenting orders, consent and separated parents , and Medico-legal report writing. Scenario 1 You are working with a new client who is 2-years- old. Mum attends the session and during the case history you learn the parents are divorced, so you ask whether there is a parenting order. Mum reports that she is paying for your sessions herself, and doesn’t want any information to be shared with her ex, what do you do? The first step here is to confirm whether there is a parenting order and if there is that you need a copy of it, so that you can act according to the legal requirements for managing health related information about this child. If the order states mum is solely responsible for managing health related matters for the child, then you may be able to comply with her request. If the order states that both parents are entitled to information about their child’s healthcare, you will need to have a conversation with the mother about your legal obligations as a health professional. This legal obligation is the same for every health professional, not just a policy that you are enforcing. If the parenting order has information you are not sure about, you should seek legal advice before acting. Scenario 2 You have been working with a school-aged client for about a year. She has always attended sessions with her Dad. When you asked about a parenting order while taking the case history, Dad made it clear he was a single parent. One day you have a voicemail from an unknown number, it turns out to be the client’s mother who is upset she had not been previously informed her child was seeing a speech pathologist, and wants an immediate phone call from you. You call your client’s father, who states that Mum has recently re-appeared on the scene, there’s no parenting order in place, and there aren’t any other orders preventing Mum from having involvement and accessing information about your client. Your client’s Dad doesn’t want you to speak to the Mother, as he claims she has forfeited her rights by being an absentee mother. What do you do? Absent of any parenting order to the contrary, both

parents are usually entitled to information about their child’s healthcare. In this scenario, you attempted to find out information about the parenting orders or agreements in the past and you were not provided with any contact information for the mother. Now that the mother has expressed a desire to be involved you are obliged to honour this request, as there are no orders stating she cannot be involved. It would be appropriate to explain your obligations to the father and call the mother to negotiate a plan for communication going forward. One possibility to expore with parental consent, is to set up a group email whereby both parents receive the same information at the same time. Scenario 3 You have a new early intervention client who is an NDIS participant. They attend their first session with Mum, when the topic of parenting orders comes up, Mum provides you a copy both of the parenting order and a copy of a DVO. This information states that both parents are entitled to information about the child, but that they are not permitted to have the contact details of each other. What are some things you need to consider? Given that both parents are entitled to information about their child, it would be appropriate to have a plan about how to disseminate this information without accidentally disclosing any information that shouldn’t be revealed. This might entail providing all correspondence via email so both can have your session notes at the same time, with blind carbon copying (BCC) both parents into that email so that their email addresses are not disclosed. Or alternatively, sending a summary individually after a phone call to both parents. You might also need to be careful about whether the information you provide, such as an assessment or review report, has the client address and/or parent contact details on it. Additionally, it is important to be mindful of identifying information contained within your client record, in case either parent asks to access information you have on file about their child. In this scenario it may also be appropriate to seek independent legal advice to confirm your actions. If you have a specific question about working with separated parents, please contact the Speech Pathology Australia Ethics Team, ethics@ speechpathologyaustralia.org.au Nadia Marussinszky

Ethics

Ethics Advisor Kelly Williams Ethics Advisor

25

October 2021 | Speak Out