Fewer fathers attend therapy for sexually-abused offspring

Fewer fathers than before are participating in therapy with children who have been sexually abused outside the family, a Dublin-based counselling group has warned.

The CARI Foundation, in its annual report published yesterday, expressed concern at the absence of paternal involvement in "the healing process" following cases of abuse.

National clinical director Ms Eileen Prendiville said fathers' attendance at counselling had "gone into a downward cycle" and this was hindering efforts aimed at supporting abused children and their families.

"The father can have a very strong reaction to abuse outside the family. He can have strong feelings of failure and anger, and a child can pick up on these and think 'Daddy is cross with me'. Even if they (fathers) came for a single appointment we could clarify that 'Daddy is not cross with you but what happened to you'."

She said the low number of fathers attending family therapy could be connected with a fear of facing one's feelings. "We would like to open on Saturdays and evenings to accommodate people who work during the day. But we're restrained by resources."

The annual report shows CARI received almost 5,000 client support and helpline calls last year, an increase of 55 per cent on the previous year. Therapy appointments increased by 17 per cent nationwide, and 30 per cent in Dublin. Of 1,824 appointments, 236 were crisis related.

Mothers (25 per cent) were the single largest category of callers to CARI's helpline with adult survivors (24 per cent) the next largest group. The report also calls for reform of the courts system to make it less traumatic for children to testify, and easier for the DPP to prosecute.

Because of problems in taking evidence, "offences committed against very young kids are least likely to be prosecuted", said CARI's national director, Ms Mary Flaherty. "We need to look at more creative ways of taking evidence. Child legal representatives could be one way of doing that."

The foundation runs two full-time centres in Dublin and Limerick, and satellite therapy services in Arklow, Cork, Galway, Navan and Tralee. Its helpline can be contacted at 1890 924 567, or 00353 1830 8523 from the UK.