Maintaining Confidentiality With Minors: Dilemmas Of School Counselors

Confidentiality in any setting where there is a counselor-client relationship is of the utmost importance. As counselors, we have a duty to ensure that all the information provided to us by our clients and during our sessions remains confidential, outside of any conferences that we may complete with more experienced professionals on the issue at hand that will be of benefit to the client. Then, the question arises where confidentiality and all that it encompasses is at question when the session is being held with a minor. Does the parent not have the right to know about the issues that are going on with their children? Confidentiality in the school setting has to be one of the biggest ethical or legal concerns for counselors who deal with minor clients on a day-to-day basis.

When the client is a student and a minor, the issues is even more complex because school counselors must balance the fights of minor clients’ confidentiality with the legitimate rights and concerns of parents and other stakeholders and the counselor’s commitment to act in a minor’s best interest” (Rivka, 2008, p.1). The consequences for not following the set guidelines regarding confidentiality could get a counselor into trouble or cause them to lose their license. To ensure that this does not occur, there are many practices that a counselor could implement to keep the potential hazards at bay. How can school counselors ensure that they are effectively helping their clients better themselves, while still allowing the parent to have a hand in the education and betterment of their child? Fortunately, there is a way to do