People who suffer rape as children often face secondary victimisation when those whom they confide in react non-supportively, a researcher said on Tuesday.
Steven Collings, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s school of psychology, was speaking at the sixth annual conference of the South African Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, held at the University of Pretoria.
”A supportive reaction to children who disclose abuse cannot be taken as a given,” said Collings, citing a review of 27 studies of the reactions of non-offending guardians (those who did not perpetrate the abuse).
The review showed 25% of such guardians were non-supportive, 31% were partially supportive and 41% were fully supportive.
Collings said some children who disclosed abuse are punished by being beaten, ignored or silenced by those in whom they confide.
One reason for such reactions, which Collings pointed out is not a justification, is ambivalence in cases such as a child reporting abuse by a father to a mother.
”The mother might reason that they value the child and their marriage and perhaps choose to preserve the marriage and silence the child, or report the case much later,” he said.
Collings found that younger children who report abuse by someone outside of the family are less likely to be taken seriously than those who report abuse by a family member.
He suggested community educational programmes could solve the problem of non-supportive reactions and encourage the reporting of abuse.
United States child-abuse litigation specialist Larry Braunstein told the conference that the best psychologists and social workers can feel uncomfortable about giving testimony when called to the witness stand.
Dilemmas they face include not knowing how long they would be given preparation to give evidence, if they would be prepared at all, how long they would be in the stand or what they should wear to court.
”Each of us is a piece of the puzzle, and in order for us to be effective in our work, we need to know where we sit in terms of the investigation and prosecution of a case,” said Braunstein.
He is also co-chair of the New York State Bar Association.
The conference is scheduled to be addressed by social workers, medical and mental health-care professionals, law enforcement and the legal professions.
Local and international experts will speak about ethical dilemmas professions face, identifying and proving drug-facilitated sexual abuse and different facets of child physical abuse.
Also on the agenda is advice on practical guidelines for media reporting on child abuse. — Sapa