The number of suspected cases of child sex abuse increased 10-fold between 1985 and 1995, a conference on child sex abuse has been told. However, the rate of confirmation of abuse has dropped from almost 58 per cent in 1986 to around 30 per cent today.
The two-day conference in Malahide, Co Dublin, marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of child sex abuse units in the Children's Hospital, Temple Street, Dublin, and Our Lady's Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin.
In 1985, there were 234 reported cases of child sex abuse, of which 274 were confirmed, according to figures available to the conference. In 1995, there were 2,441 reports, of which 765 were confirmed.
Mr Kieran McGrath, senior social worker at Temple Street, told The Irish Times that the drop in the proportion of confirmed cases had two causes.
On the one hand, greater awareness of child sex abuse led to people reporting quite vague suspicions, while on the other hand the increased involvement of the legal system meant that professionals were cautious about definitive confirmation of sex abuse.
The original brief of the units was to establish a specialist multidisciplinary service which would offer opinion on the sexual abuse of referred children, including forensic examinations for evidential purposes, Mr Colman Duggan, senior social worker at the Crumlin hospital, told delegates.
They were expected to have the closest possible co-operation with community care services and the Garda. However, at the time these did not have clear objectives and standards for addressing the question.
There was often a multiplication of interviews of children. The numbers of interviews children had to undergo could be reduced by joint interviews between police and child protection personnel, and the use of video evidence.
However, the units were specifically excluded from delivering therapeutic services for children thought to be sexually abused.
"The question of the morality of opening up issues for children, and then having little to offer them once they have told their difficult story, the telling of which often has a major impact on themselves and those close to them, has been a major question for professionals," said Dr Margo Anglim, from Temple Street.
However, in 1996 the units argued for and developed such services, and both individual and group therapy is now been given by them to children, adolescents and their families.
Mr Duggan also appealed for a change in emphasis from investigation and child protection to the promotion of child welfare.
"Guidelines which cross the governmental boundaries of health, education and justice are necessary," he said.
Insp Dominic Quinn, of the Garda In-service Training Unit at Harcourt Square, Dublin, said the Garda very much wanted to get involved in inter-agency training and this had already begun.
He warned against too early a confrontation of a suspected child abuser. "It can remove the element of surprise. It should be combined with arrest. Otherwise he can destroy physical evidence, prepare alibis or threaten the child."
Prof Bill Friedrichs, of the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, US, said there was a tendency to minimise both the extent and the impact of child sex abuse. Yet studies showed that 20 per cent to 25 per cent of women had by the age of 18 had an unwanted sexual experience with someone at least five years their elder.
When child sex abuse was first identified, only the most severe cases were noted, he said. For example, Romania started to record child sex abuse in 1994, when the number of instances was 34. However, of them, 31 had ended in the death of the child due to injuries.
Reported cases rose to over 200 in 1995, and tripled the next year, with the number of deaths remaining virtually constant.