Less than one in 50 abuse cases reported by victim false

LESS than one in 50 child sexual abuse cases reported by the victim is false, but in cases detected by a third party, most children will try to deny their suffering.

Establishing the truth in either situation is the number one worry for childcare practitioners, a conference in Dublin heard yesterday.

More than 100 professionals, including social workers, therapists, psychologists and teachers, attended the day-long programme of seminars and workshops organised by Children at Risk in Ireland. CARI clinical director Eileen Prendiville said the aim was to help practitioners become more confident in reaching conclusions when they assessed child sexual abuse allegations. "We find people are nervous about doing assessments. Their conclusions have to be stood over in a court of law and they have enormous consequences for the child, the accused and the whole family.