How far should confidentiality go?

[*elizabeths-mum*]

Baden Clay case:
George Kilimnios, barrister for Relationships Australia Queensland, said the Family Law Act states that communications between family counsellors and clients are not admissible in the court.

- See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/gerard-baden-clay-urges-court-to-allow-family-counsellor...

[poddster]

I would suggest that George Kilimnios has a closer look at the Family Law Act.

[witches*wol]

Interesting... I am currently half way through my Counselling Diploma Course (18 months full time) and we have all learnt that we have to explain to each client that we can only offer conditional confidentiality and one of the conditions is If we are ordered to hand over our files to the court we are legally obligated to do so.  We can't refuse a court order.

[catsnknots]

If he said he was going to kill the children or another person then authorities are told... if he only talked about harming himself then it can only be discussed with the medical team.

[*elizabeths-mum*]

I found it interesting that Relationships Australia are so strict. Anything we write about a client, while confidential, can be submitted to a court. We are always being reminded to keep our notes legible. 🙂

[freddie*rooster]

EM I believe Bayden-Clay through his counsel has asked for the information sort to be released to the Court. So he's obviously confident it is favourable to his case.In this particular case, I can't see why it wouldn't be released in view of the facts, that being, one of the parties is deceased, and the other is accused of murder.

Are preists bound to release information from confessional admissions?

[*elizabeths-mum*]

I imagined that anything said to a priest was Sacrosanct and have wondered if they have to report child abuse, but was surprised RA was so pedantic even in this instance. (I know nothing about priest confidentiality)

A close family member was attending RA at the same time as doing honours at Uni. Because of the stress involved in her personal situation, she decided to defer her studies a couple of days after the cut off point. The Uni required documentation from the counsellor she had been seeing, in this case RA, which they refused to give because of privacy so she was unable to get a refund of that semesters fees. As a result she was considered to have failed her honours degree and can't continue it later. She gave permission for RA to pass the required information to the Uni.

[freddie*rooster]

Wow RA appear to be a law unto themselves, especially considering your family members case and the permission being granted for the release of their personal information.

[*elizabeths-mum*]

It puzzles me Freddie.

Just googling to find out about Priests, confession and child sexual abuse and with all the child sexual abuse done by priests it's hard to find a straight answer!

They can't report crimes to the police apparently but can encourage the person committing the crime to do so. Pity they can't hold back on giving absolution until that is done.

[toon_town_nutter]

Interesting both his lawyer and the prosecution want the evidence but the counsellors employer says it's inadmissible.

Funny that, it's common in family court cases to subpoena a counsellor.