Discussion: Ethical Issues in Child and Adolescent Counseling

Ethical Issues in Child and Adolescent CounselingName:
Institutional Affiliation
Summarize the main ethical issues that differentiate child and adolescent counseling from adult counseling.
Decisional competence. Whereas adults are considered legally competent to make their own decisions in regards to psychotherapy, children and adolescent only bear limited or no legal expertise whatsoever. The judicial system assumes adults to be more competent (de facto), but considers adolescents and children as people who have not attained the age of legal majority incompetent or de jure. Hence, in many situations, minors are not legally capable of making health and privacy decisions.
In contrast to adults who are legible in consenting in matters to do with psychotherapy, children and adolescents rarely seek counsel on their own will or accord. In many cases, authority figures decide on when and why a child’s or an adolescent’s behavior needs to change. In short, psychotherapy consent or permission emanates from parents or legal guardians when it comes to children and adolescents.
Confidentiality. In comparison to adults who enjoy utmost confidentiality during counseling, children and adolescents confidentiality considerations during counseling are limited to important secrets.
Competing interests. As opposed to adult counseling which entails voluntary single or dual relationships, children and adolescent counseling is somewhat forced and involves multiple-relationship model. Th…