1. Reporting child abuse is mandatory for members of certain professions including any of the medical professions, Social Agencies, Social Workers, State Agencies (e.g. Public Health and Child Welfare), school teachers and police officers (What, 2003). These people are considered mandated reporters. The public can report suspected child abuse to child welfare agencies or to the police, but are not obligated by law to do so. In this case, there is reason to suspect Jeremy is being abused by his father and has been neglected by his mother and so the child welfare authorities should be called in to investigate.
2. It might be difficult to report child abuse here because it may be difficult to prove. If there is no current physical evidence of abuse, then it cannot be reported. Jeremy has been referred to counseling for recurrent fighting, the results of which may disguise any evidence of physical abuse by his father by making the injuries from fighting indistinguishable from injuries inflicted by his father. However, since Jeremy is obviously a very trouble adolescent with a history of troublemaking and alcohol abuse, and is a discipline problem at school, he needs to be referred to counseling and it would be beneficial for the whole family to attend counseling.
3. There would be several initial treatment goals in this case (Assessment, 2000); Child, 1997). The discipline problem at school with Jeremy needs to be addressed. The counselor needs to find out why he is a disciplinary problem. They need to find out what is bothering Jeremy to make this happen - whether he is having problems keeping up, whether he is losing interest in school, or whether something else is disturbing him and making it difficult for him to concentrate.
The recurrent fighting needs to be addressed. The reason for Jeremy's aggression needs to be found. It may be related to his parents separation: perhaps he feels he was abandoned by his fat...