New report critical of process of disclosing childhood abuse

Many adults who make a disclosure that they were abused as children said if they were starting over they wouldn't do so because of the process involved.

Many adults who make a disclosure that they were abused as children said if they were starting over, they wouldn't do so because of the process involved.

A majority of those who had made retrospective disclosures also said they were not told that their information would be shared with someone else during the assessment process.

The findings are included in upcoming research carried out by Dr Joe Mooney, assistant professor of social work at University College Dublin, and designed in consultation with members of survivor support organisations including One in Four and the Rape Crisis Network Ireland.

On his blog, Dr Mooney outlined some of the preliminary findings ahead of the full research launch in October. It received input from 29 people who had made retrospective disclosures, the majority of whom had waited at least a decade until after the abuse to disclose it.

"Of those who did engage with child protection services to make a retrospective disclosure, a majority expressed that they did not understand the process and some were not informed that they could bring a support person with them when meeting with child protection services," it said.

When asked if they were kept up to date about the assessment of their retrospective disclosure, a majority of those who participated felt they were not kept up to date. 

Details of support services

It also found that only one person was provided with specific details regarding support services related to sexual abuse, while a majority of respondents had not received advice on areas including the procedures for making a complaint.

"In terms of such data protection, GDPR, and information sharing, a majority of participants [77%] in the study were not told that their information would be shared with someone else during the assessment process," it said.

"And at the time of the study, most [73%] were unsure whether or not any of their information had been shared."

Of the respondents who chose to complete the section relating to their overall experience of engaging with Child Protection Services, most said they would not start the process if they had to. 

The issue has been under renewed focus in the past two years with Tusla outlining plans to introduce its Child Abuse Substantiation Procedure (CASP), which has been criticised by organisations including One in Four, and the Department of Children and the Department of Justice exploring the possibility of expanding the Garda Vetting Bureau, on foot of a recommendation by Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Prof Conor O'Mahony.