Little Voices

LITTLE VOICES’ - BACKGROUND TO SERVICE PROVISION

‘Little Voices’ has been developed from an application to the victims fund provision for victims of sexual offending. The Bridgeway project offers a direct therapeutic service to children and young people, and their families who have been victimised by sexual abuse. For the last five years Bridgeway has been developing the play therapy element of the service to address the need for the under 8’s to “have a voice” in the judicial system in order that they are protected from further abuse and have access to natural justice.

There have been concerns for a number of years amongst professionals working in the child protection system that the protection and subsequent therapeutic needs of young children who are believed to be at risk from sexual are not being adequately met. There still remain common beliefs that young children cannot recount accurately what has happened to them and, if they have been able to convey sufficient of the essence of their abusive experiences for the matter to be placed within the criminal justice system, such action is deemed untenable because the child would not be able to withstand cross-examination in criminal proceedings.

Previous work has been piloted by the Bridgeway Project, in which some young children, (u8’s), were referred to the project for assessment purposes because there were concerns regarding the possibility that they may have been sexually abused. Their circumstances were put before the family court and they were all made subjects of care orders and placed in secure, protective alternative homes.

Some of the concerns identified prior to the assessment of these young children included medical findings conducive with sexual abuse, or a child displaying sexualised behaviour, that is inappropriate for his/her age and stage of development and the aetiology, is unknown. Sometimes young children give just sufficient verbal information to raise concerns but are not able to say anything further when formally interviewed by a police officer.

‘LITTLE VOICES’ – WHAT WE HOPE FOR- THE PROPOSED SERVICE

That criminal justice and childcare agencies will work together to mitigate the circumstances for young children who are possible subjects of sexual abuse and to assist them in their role as witnesses, to meet their needs, to narrow the justice gap and increase the chances of offenders being brought to justice. Young children (u8’s) are to be offered the opportunity to have a play therapy intervention under the ‘Achieving Best Evidence’ guidelines and protocols.

In the first instance a detailed specialist assessment will be undertaken regarding the holistic development of the child, and an informed opinion as to whether the child may/may not have been sexually abused will be provided. This assessment will involve a number of sessions of non-directive play therapy (between 4-6) with the child, which will be videoed and accurately recorded in note form. The therapist will then write a detailed report outlining the views and recommendations for future protective action for the child/children concerned. The therapist may then be required to submit this to the court with the possibility of being cross-examined.

 

‘LITTLE VOICES’- WHAT WILL WE OFFER?

We will offer a specialist service extending the play therapist role to that of intermediaries within the ‘Achieving Best Evidence’ guidelines and protocol.

Many young children have particular difficulty in understanding and articulating what has happened to them when they have been sexually abused. This is particularly the case with those (u8’s) who will not have the language of sexual behaviours. The problem with working with children where there is undisclosed or unsubstantiated abuse it that there is always uncertainty regarding ongoing and future access to an alleged perpetrator. Specialist play therapists can “give words or language” to the observed signals/play of the child, so that they in conjunction with other professionals can take the appropriate steps to safeguard the child and other vulnerable children.

Trying to actively help a child disclose is currently likely to place a subsequent investigation or court case in jeopardy. This model through which evidence will be collected, documented, interpreted and presented in court in line with ‘Achieving Best Evidence’ will become best practice in cases where due to the child’s young age or level of development professionals might otherwise not bring charges due to the lack of credible evidence.