In the Best Interests of the Child: Ethical Challenges for Counsellors and Psychotherapists

Working with children is challenging in many ways, not least of all ethically. When health professionals work with children or young people they are, to a greater or lesser extent, also working with at least one parent or guardian. A child rarely presents for therapy without an adult deciding it is necessary for some reason (Koocher, 2008). Sometimes it is a parent or a teacher who wants the child to attend therapy, and sometimes it is a family therapist (Lowe, 2004). Given that young children are not always in a position to give informed consent to treatment such as counselling or psychotherapy, the adults involved are required to act in such a way as to protect the 'best interests of the child'.