The ethics and politics of writing psychological reports when working with children

Abstract

Service providers put pressure on Maltese psychologists to write reports at various moments of children’s lives, particularly prior to transition stages, in order to justify the provision of resources. This dissertation questions the ethical and political considerations involved in writing psychological reports about children. Using some of the ideas of Jacques Derrida, it attempts to make strange what is considered to be obvious and taken for granted in report writing. In this study, the interviews of psychologists are at ‘play’ with Derrida’s ideas of gift, supplement and aporia. This dissertation will conclude that acknowledgment and awareness is essential for report writing to do justice to the child.