Forensic Psychology For Dummies (146 page)

Some good news is that many children survive physical and sexual abuse remarkably well, although others are psychologically and often physically scarred for life. Many factors influence how severe the effect is on the child:

Whether the abuse involves direct contact or verbal abuse and a climate of acceptance of sex and violence.

The particular developmental stage of the child when maltreated.

The duration and frequency of the abuse.

How violently any victim resistance was dealt with.

Whether an abuse of trust is involved, because of the close relationship between the child and the perpetrator.

If the child was listened to when telling about the abuse.

How helpful the support was from teachers, social services, police or psychologists.

Preventing child abuse in the family

Attempts to deal with sexual abuse within the family operate at three levels:

Primary prevention
is aimed at the whole population and includes public awareness campaigns that emphasise zero tolerance. Useful programmes within schools also deal with bullying and explain the difference between good and bad secrets to encourage children to report abuse. However, these aren’t as effective as dealing directly with women and children to increase their self-esteem and empower them to disclose their concerns.

Secondary preventions
are services targeted at families that are deemed to be at risk or in need of further support. This approach is most effective when it consists of a number of different agencies working together, including special child protection units within the police, social services, education and health authorities and probation services. Co-ordinating these different agencies in the interest of children at risk can be a complex and daunting task though.

Tertiary prevention
is the most common strategy and has some of the qualities of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. It’s a reaction to the discovery of abuse within a family, setting in motion procedures to prevent it happening again and to punish and/or treat the perpetrator.

This strategy has to deal with possibilities of false allegations and the need to get a clear and full account of what has been going on. It also has to manage the problems that arise from removing the perpetrator from a family, who may be the only breadwinner, and protecting the victims from reprisals by the perpetrator. The offender is likely to eventually be released from custody and so the challenge arises of how to manage his return into the community.

The treatment of offenders as I describe in the earlier section ‘Appraising some sex offender treatment programmes’, is perhaps the most effective way of protecting children. If the risks of a person re-offending are low enough for that person to be managed within the community, a greater chance exists of his eventual rehabilitation. Without treatment, he’s more likely to re-offend.