NCJ Number
127206
Journal
Journal of Social Work Practice Dated: (November 1987) Pages: 71-79
Date Published
1987
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Child sexual abuse is explored from the idea that it is basically a betrayal of trust and an abuse of power by an adult, usually a man who is known by the child 95 percent of the time; 50 percent of the time the abuser will be a family member. The recent rapid increase in cases in Cleveland is discussed along with the related increased need to provide protection to children, prevention of abuse, and proper intervention methods.
Abstract
For many years the reality of sexual abuse was obscured by the influence of Freudian notions that children's reports of abuse were fantasy. These ideas are now being challenged. The fact that there are no reliable statistics for child sexual abuse is discussed. Professional concern is described as having moved on from questions of incidence to debates about the best way to intervene, both when a disclosure is made and when there is a suspicion of abuse. The Cleveland controversy of large numbers of reported cases and of the children being taken into care is presented as an example of State interference in families, lack of public awareness of the volume of the child sexual abuse problem, and the problem of how to intervene in order to help all parties involved. 3 references