Ethics in Child Protection: A Nursing Perspective

Child abuse and neglect is occurring all the time, even as it goes undetected by authorities entrusted with its prevention and mitigation. Sometimes, the very authorities mandated to protect children are perpetrators, making rescue interventions a complex process. Nurses, as part of the health care system and institutions of care, are constantly faced with ethical dilemmas as they prevent, rescue, manage, and rehabilitate children who are at risk of or have experienced abuse and/or neglect. Balancing ethical principles such as autonomy, beneficence and justice become very challenging.

In this webinar, Miriam C.A. Wagoro, a mental health nurse and research ethics specialist with the University of Nairobi in Kenya, will discuss how those who are mandated to protect children can balance the duty to care and ethical principles for children under our care.