Do Children Lie About Sexual Abuse?

This interesting article was written for teachers to assist them in investigating allegations of sexual abuse. While it contains some helpful information including a “validity checklist” to assess children’s statements, I thought the best advice in the entire article was contained in one sentence:

 ”…education staff are not in a position to investigate possible abuse, and child protection  procedures should always be followed when a child discloses abuse.”

I have been representing victims of sexual abuse for almost two decades. I have found that in most cases, persons in authority who were charged with “investigating” the allegations, simply did not take the allegations seriously, or worse, ignored or covered up the allegations.

It bears repeating that sexual abuse is a serious crime and ANY allegation of abuse must, by statute, be reported to the appropriate authorities.

Can Sexual Abuse Cause Brain Injury?

It is strange how looking to help a client with a problem often leads to answers that can help a client with a very different problem.

I was doing some research for a client with a Minor Traumatic Brain when I came across an article in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. The article is titled: Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Neuropsychological and Cognitive Function in College Women

The authors conducted neuropsychological tests on female students, and compared the results to tests conducted on female students who had been victims of sexual abuse.   A strong association was found between the duration of the sexual abuse and memory impairments.  The results of the study indicate that childhood sexual abuse appears to be associated with a constellation of neuropsychological deficits usually found in victims of M.T.B.I.

Those of us that represent victims of abuse often struggle with how to explain the effects of the abuse to a judge or jury.

This study provides us with another tool.

Read the whole article at http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/18/1/45

15 Ways to Protect your Child from Sexual Abuse

1. Listen to your child and believe what they tell you. When your child tells you he or she doesn’t want to be with someone, pay attention!

2. Participate in your child’s activities and get to know your children’s friends and their parents. 

3. Get to know the people where children gather in a community like Churches and sports facilities. 

4. Never leave your child unattended, especially in the car.  

5. Be open when your child asks questions about sex. Make sure the answers age appropriate. Be alert for any talk that shows premature sexual understanding.

6. Pay attention to changes in your child’s behavior or attitude.

7. Pay attention when someone shows what seems to be greater than normal interest in your child.

8. Make unannounced visits to your child’s babysitter, day care or school. Make certain they will release your child only to you or someone you officially designate.

9. Check to see if your child’s school includes sex-abuse prevention training.

10. Let your child express affection on their own terms. Do not insist that your child hug or kiss people.

11. Pay attention when an adult uses social occasions to focus on befriending your child or taking your child away for private time that seems out of the ordinary.

12. Do not allow your child to go alone on vacation, drive around or spend the night with anyone that has not proven to be trustworthy.

13. Do not assume that a person is trustworthy because of their position, title or because they work in a place where children gather.

14. Trust your instincts.

15. Pay attention!