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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri

Time: 11:38 am

Results for child sexual abuse (ireland)

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Author: Rape Crisis Network Ireland

Title: Hearing child survivors of sexual violence: Towards a national response

Summary: As children are among the most vulnerable in society, through their dependence on adults and limited access to resources they are often incapable or face considerable difficulty communicating needs and having those needs met. This report seeks to identify those needs more clearly in relation to sexual violence and provide information about child sexual violence learned from child survivors who access services. This information can be used by adults and statutory actors to respond to and support vulnerable children. Globally, 7% of boys and 14% of girls under the age of 18 are subjected to forced sexual intercourse and other forms of violence involving touch (Pinheiro, 2006). In Ireland, the SAVI report revealed that 30% of women and 24% of men experienced some form of sexual abuse before the age of 17 (McGee et.al. 2002). Despite this vulnerability to multiple forms of abuse and violence, children are often disadvantaged in seeking support and redress for sexual crimes. Research in Ireland and internationally has identified that children subjected to sexual violence often do not disclose the abuse to anyone or delay disclosure until decades after the abuse has ended (McGee et.al. 2002; McElvany, 2008). Furthermore, even when children do disclose incidents of sexual violence, services may be inadequate or inaccessible. The CARI Foundation has stated that, "services for children affected by sexual abuse across the country are patchy and inadequate and much less developed than those for adults who were abused in their childhood" (2011). An important factor in the coherence and development of services is that the "the lack of comprehensive research and disaggregated data concerning sexual violence makes it difficult to clearly define the problem" (Moreno, 2010). The RCNI statistical database seeks to address this gap through the provision of high quality data on child survivors of sexual abuse. This information not only defines the problem but is essential in developing strategies and solutions to support survivors and reduce the risk of sexual violence against children. In this RCNI report, data relating to survivors under the age of 18 utilising RCC and CARI services in 2012 are examined. RCCs usually provide services to survivors from the age of 14, while CARI provides services to all children. The report presents previously unexamined data from these centres and includes information about the 192 child survivors, accounting for 220 incidents of sexual violence against children, who accessed services from CARI or an RCC in 2012. Child survivors represent a small subset of the total number of survivors of child sexual abuse that access services from RCCs or CARI. As incidents of sexual violence are often disclosed years later, certain types of incidents, perpetrators, and survivors may be omitted from the child survivor sample that are evident within a larger sample that includes adult survivors of child sexual abuse. In order to address this, and to reveal significant disparities between child service users and all service users who experienced incidences of child sexual violence, the child survivor sample is compared to the general sample of survivors of child sexual violence. Where significant differences exist, they are discussed within the report.

Details: Galway: Rape Crisis Network Ireland, 2013. 44p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 26, 2015 at: http://www.rcni.ie/wp-content/uploads/Hearing-Child-Survivors-of-Sexual-Violence-2013.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: Ireland

URL: http://www.rcni.ie/wp-content/uploads/Hearing-Child-Survivors-of-Sexual-Violence-2013.pdf

Shelf Number: 134683

Keywords:
Child Pornography
Child Sexual Abuse (Ireland)
Child Sexual Exploitation
Child Sexual Violence