2 weeks Ago
After 37 years of working with victims of child sexual abuse, I am discouraged at last week’s ruling by the Maine Supreme Court. I would venture to guess that all professionals working on behalf of child sexual abuse victims want to see justice done and do their work as effectively as possible without harming anyone. Celia Woolverton , LICSW, LCSW, is a psychotherapist in private practice and forensic evaluator.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, you can call 1-800-871-7741 for free, confidential help 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To learn more about sexual violence prevention and response in Maine, visit mecasa.org, the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault website .
Yet the Maine Supreme Court has ruled that the 2021 child sexual abuse law that allowed people to file lawsuits over claims of child sex abuse, regardless of when the abuse was alleged to have occurred, is no longer constitutional. Society at large still does not understand victims’ reactions to child sexual abuse, and unfortunately, these misunderstandings persist in our courts. An education in the science of delayed disclosure would go a long way in bringing the necessary justice that child sexual abuse victims deserve.
The average age of disclosure of child sexual abuse in a study of 1,000 victims was 52 years old. Disclosure of child sexual abuse can take years, and it is complicated by shame, fear, guilt and avoidance. Shame — even though child sexual abuse is never the fault of the victim, often those who experience it feel as if something is wrong with them.
Fear — of not being believed, fear of how others will react and how they will treat you, fear of being ostracized and fear of being judged all influence disclosure. Guilt — victims may blame themselves, which leads to feelings of guilt. And like shame, when someone believes they are guilty of something, it is difficult to tell others about it.
Avoidance — it is not uncommon for people who have experienced child sexual abuse to want to forget it happened and “move on.” They believe they can do this by not thinking or talking about what happened. Simply educating our society and our courts on the prevalence and long-term effects of the trauma of being sexually abused as a child, and the difficulty with disclosure would benefit three critical areas in our society.
1) Prosecuting child sexual abuse would identify the perpetrator who otherwise remains in hiding in institutions, thus, informing the public so that children would not be abused in the future. 2) Prosecuting child sexual abuse educates the public about the prevalence and harm of child sexual abuse, which further prevents future abuse. 3) Prosecuting child sexual abuse shifts the cost of abuse from the victims and society to those who caused it.
If victims can gather the courage to disclose child sexual abuse, shouldn’t we listen? Commentary: Maine child sexual abuse survivors must be supported – whenever they come forward Comments are not available on this story. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous.
