INTERVIEWING CHILDREN WHO HAVE BEEN VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ABUSE:

1. FPP BIRMINGHAM APRIL 2019 INTERVIEWING CHILDREN WHO HAVE BEEN VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ABUSE: Professor Kevin Browne, PhD. Chair of Forensic Psychology and Child Health Centre for Forensic and Family Psychology School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, NG8 1BB, UK. Kevin.Browne@Nottingham.ac.uk

2. The Factsabout Sexual Abuse of Children • Child sexual abuse is the exploitation of a child under the age of 16 for the sexual pleasure and gratification of an adult • The majority of sexual assaults on children (80%) are committed by someone the victim knows: a neighbour, friend, family member, etc. • Sexual abuse of children occurs within every neighbourhood, class and racial background • Boys and girls are both at risk from abuse • Children are bribed, tricked or forced into sexual acts by the adult

3. Most (at least 75%) of sex offences against children are from someone they know and trust

6. „CHILD IN THE WEB”

7. <Ania> Hi! I’m Ann. I’m 12 years old and I’m looking for friends. YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS ON THE OTHER SIDE.

8. <Wojtek> Hi, Ann. My name is Wojtek. I’m also 12 years old and I would like to meet you. Pedophiles are more often searching for their victims in the Internet. According to Nobody’s Children Foundation’s research over 90 % of Polish children use internet to become acquainted with others. Make sure that your child using internet will not provide strangers with personal data and will not meet strangers outside the Internet.

9. Extent of Child MaltreatmentGilbert, Widom, Browne et al -The Lancet January 2010 Note: Only 1 in 10 come to the attention of professionals (Incidence 10% of Prevalence)

10. Boys and girls under 12 years are equally at risk of physical and sexually abuse by people they know and trust.

12. Agency Reports: Primary Reasons (%)

13. Reasons for not telling 25.1% Fear of disbelief or punishment. 20.8% Guilt or social stigma 10.2% Intimidation or threats from the abuser 9.6% Did not know who to tell 9.2% Feared family breakdown 7.5% Denied or wanted to forget the experience 4.5% Felt powerless and didn’t think anyone would believe them (Australian study of adults sexually abused as children, Waldby, 1985)

14. Family secrets • Children keep secrets to protect the stability of their family. • They are afraid of the consequences of telling. • They fear blame for the breaking up the family.

15. Family risk factors for child sexual abuse • Social Isolation - Single or separated parent. • Step-parent or cohabitee in the family with discord and/or disruption. • Domineering male – oppressed/abused mother. • Maternal caregiver disabled or ill, over dependent, depressed. • Maternal caregiver employed outside the home. • Poor Parenting, lack of supervision and emotional neglect • Child victim has poor relationship with parent(s) • Child victim acts as caregiver within family (parentification) • Child victim is physically and/or emotionally abused or severely physically punished within the family

16. Relative risk of child maltreatment to children with disabilities Based on US data on 50,278 children from Sullivan and Knutson, 2000

17. Vulnerable populations Children in residential care are especially at risk of sexual abuse

18. Frequency of Sexual Abuse against Children in Residential (foster care) Institutions 2008 • In 2008, the Children’s Rights Ombudsman of Lithuania reported on research on sexual abuse at residential care institutions. • Out of 3674 children who were questioned, 158 (4.3%) had experienced sexual abuse. • 68 children (43 % of children who experienced sexual abuse) experienced sexual abuse repeatedly – for two or more times. • 2/3 of the children who had experienced sexual abuse were boys and 1/3 were girls.

19. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES AND PRACTICES INSTITUTE (SAPI) Sofia, 2010 EU DAPHNE PROGRAMME R E P O R T "Sexual abuse against children at residential institutions“ : A comparative international study of Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

20. SAPI REPORT 2010

21. Forms of sexual abuse against children in institutions (N= 350) – NGO - SAPI Report 2010

22. ProfessionalBarriers to reporting: • Not being aware of professional or legal obligation to respond or report (mandatory reporting?) • Not recognizing signs of child maltreatment • Not knowing how to make a report or who to make a report to • Reluctance to make a report because: • Not wanting to get involved (e.g. time, family privacy beliefs) • Not wanting to alienate a family. • Not wanting the child to be taken away or the offender jailed. • Confusion regarding an agency’s policies about reporting abuse/neglect • Previous bad experience after filing reports (paperwork, court witness) • Not thinking it would make any difference – report not believed, ignored or no further actions.

23. Anna’s case It was impossible for Anna to challenge the views of her social worker and that of other staff who worked in the children’s home, as they all regarded Mr Charming as a "model care worker" with ten years’ experience of working in residential care. The victim was left with the feeling that in some way the sexual abuse was their own fault. Hence, the victim thinks that she will be blamed for the sexual abuse if she is believed at all. She also feared his violent reprisal as he claimed he would smother her with a pillow in the night if she told anyone. Anna passively cried out for help many times; through bed-wetting, cutting her arms and running away, for which she was punished by her care worker and ignored by her social worker. With such negative rejections to Anna's help seeking behaviour, she developed feelings of learned helplessness (that nothing will or could be done) and this became an integral part of her personality to remain with her into adulthood. Even now she is unsure of the consequences of her historical disclosure as an adult and whether anything will be done to punish her offender.

24. False allegations • 55% of CSA allegations during custody or visitation disputes are unfounded (Benedek and Schetky, 1985). • 6% of CSA cases reported to clinical/health agencies cannot be substantiated. (Peters, 1976; Goodwin et al., 1978). • 5% false allegations from adults 1% false allegations from children (Jones and McGraw, 1987)

25. Reliable and fictitious accounts of child sexual abuse. Denver sample of 576 children referred to hospital in Denver USA (Jones & McGraw, Melbourne, 1987). 49% Reliable accounts 4% Recantations 17% Unsubstantiated suspicions 24% Insufficient information 5% Fictitious reports by adults 1% Fictitious reports by children

26. Characteristics of true and unsubstantiated cases of child sexual abuse in the family (Adapted from Green & Schetky, 1998)

27. Research Evidence “False denials are common but False disclosures are rare”

28. Child’s testimony Acceptable to the court if the child is: • Old enough to verbalise • Knows what the truth is • Can distinguish right from wrong

29. RELIABILITY OF THE CHILD WITNESS • Inconsistent statement details of the abuse allegation • Inconsequent past behaviour of the victim in relation to alleged abuser • Unreasonable delay in disclosing abuse or • No disclosure at all.

30. *Gilbert, R. Widom, C. Browne, K. et al, 2009. Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. The Lancet, 373: 68-81.

31. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Percent 50 42 40 27 30 21 20 14 10 0 Females****** Males** Abuse/Neglect Controls Source: Widom, C.S. (1999) Posttraumatic stress disorder in abused and neglected children grown-up. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156:1223-1229. N=1189

32. Consequences of Historical Trauma

33. Victim’s Response to Maltreatment Victims’ experiences of maltreatment and their response to it will differ depending on their age and stage of development, knowledge and understanding, previous experiences and personal resources.

34. Developmental Perspective of the Victimisation of Children (Finkelhor, 1995) DEVELOPMENTAL VICTIMOLOGY FURTHER VICTIMISATION? a) Developmental factors affecting risk of victimisation b) Processes affecting children's’ reactions to victimisation i) developmental stages & tasks i) suitability as targets ii) critical periods ii) ability to protect self iii) cognitive appraisal iii) social and physical environments iv) symptom expression EFFECTS OF VICTIMISATION (DEPENDS ON:)

35. Child incest victims protect themselves from mental breakdown by ‘splitting’ their offender into ‘good father’ and ‘bad father’ Good father

36. Bad father

37. Legal Principle The conduct of the victim of the crime has no baring on the conviction of that crime”. Liberty (1993)

38. A child’s evidence Influenced by powerful distortions: • Shame • Guilt • Fear • Threats and inducements • Anxiety • Stress of initial event • Stress of post interviews

39. Inconsistent details of their maltreatment • Abuse is not an event but a process of many events occurring over certain duration of time. • An individual subjected to one type of abuse is often subjected to another. • Memories for any one abusive incident would be influenced by other abusive incidents. • Such that details of any one event would become confused with other events.

40. Children’s memory 1 “Research indicates that children have the ability to remember. Older children’s memories are as good as those of adults”. (K.C. Faller, 1992)

41. Children’s memory 2 “Once an event is properly encoded and stored in memory, a child’s memory of it is likely to be as enduring as an adult’s”. (N.W. Perry, 1992)

42. Children’s memory 3 “Changes in memory are generally unconscious and distortions occur gradually without calculated interference. It is not so much a question of a child being deceptive as being confused”. (E. Loftus, 1992)

43. Adult and child victims of sexual assault dissociate their mind from their body in order to cope with repeated abuse. This may lead to personality disorder at a later date.

44. Forgetting Caused by: • Failure to perceive event • Poor understanding of event • Difficulties in encoding or storing material • Problems of recall (denial) • Lack of attention – tries to forget! • Stress and trauma of event make emotional reactions unpredictable and uncontrollable.

45. Historical Cases of sexual abuse Recollections of child sexual abuse years or decades after the abuse has taken place: Two possibilities to consider: • Childhood traumas are forgotten or suppressed until somehow re-stimulated at a later point in time, or • Some clients lie about or are deluded into believing childhood abuse has occurred in their past, as a result of a ‘False Memory Syndrome’ (E. Loftus, 1997).

46. Post traumatic stress makes child victims unreliable witnesses • Recovered memories are not clear or consistent. • Victims say it is like a fog, with different aspects of the abuse being remembered at various times. • Memories are often recalled mixed in with strong emotions of feeling trapped and helpless. • Self blame is common.

47. Children’s Memory “How the child is interviewed is likely to have a profound effect on the child’s ability to recall and report information from memory”. (N.W. Perry, 1992)

48. Use Developmentally Sensitive Language in Interviews with Children Several short questions – Where did your mother take you that day? Who was there? What room were you in? what happened there? Active voice – Did he touch you? Clear use of names – What did Mary do with Bill and Jane? Single negatives – Did mum tell you not to go there? Short words – Point to Simple verbs – Was it… Direct – Are you tired? Do you want a break?

49. Age inappropriate language in Interviews with Children Long, complex question – When you were with your uncle in the bedroom of the blue house your mum took you to, what did he do to you? Passive voice – were you touched by him? Confusing pronouns – what did she do with them? Double negatives – didn’t mum tell you not to go there? Multi-syllabic words – identify Complex verbs – it might have been… Hypothetical – if you want a break, then let me know.

50. Use of Drawings with Maltreated Children • Maltreated children are often delayed in cognitive, emotional, and language development (Veltman & Browne, 2001). • Drawings are used by professionals as a method of allowing the child to communicate more freely without language • A way of ‘breaking the ice’ between the child and professional. • Facilitate discussions about frightening and threatening information and perceptions about abusive events (Burgess & Hartman, 1993; Veltman & Browne, 2002).