Confidentiality
It can sometimes be challenging to navigate the fine line between respecting the child’s confidentiality and meeting your safeguarding responsibilities: how do you ensure the child is safe whilst protecting the trust they have in you? Whilst this can present a challenge to professionals, it is important for you to remain open, honest and transparent in relation to your actions, whilst acknowledging children’s worries and finding ways of addressing these. If you involve the child in conversations regarding your actions, you can mitigate against jeopardising their trust. You can also make sure the child knows what is happening at every step of the way- making sure they are kept involved and informed. This is critical to reinforce their positive help seeking behaviour.
Being Believed
Children have identified that their experience of talking to someone about sexual abuse was positive when:
Many studies have identified that children worry they will not be believed. There are several reasons why they may think this:
These feelings are likely to affect how they tell us what is happening to them – for example, they may be vague and appear unsure of what they are telling us.
Your responses need to be in line with safeguarding policies, which is likely to include ensuring a child’s communication with us is not influenced by your reactions ((hyperlink to section on leading questions and Part 2). However, accepting “a child’s feelings without judgement” (Baker et al 2019:7); focusing on what the child is telling us with positive body language and listening skills; and, not acting surprised or shocked at what the child says, will be conducive to creating a supportive environment where children feel comfortable talking to us about sexual abuse.
Practitioners may experience mixed messages in relation to whether or not to explicitly say to the child ‘I believe you’ when a child tells them they have been sexually abused. However, such explicit statements can be problematic and should be avoided. It is, however, important that practitioners communicate that they are listening to the child, take a stance of belief and that they care about them (hyperlink to section 2) and that they want them to talk about what is important to them.
It can sometimes be challenging to navigate the fine line between respecting the child’s confidentiality and meeting your safeguarding responsibilities: how do you ensure the child is safe whilst protecting the trust they have in you? Whilst this can present a challenge to professionals, it is important for you to remain open, honest and transparent in relation to your actions, whilst acknowledging children’s worries and finding ways of addressing these. If you involve the child in conversations regarding your actions, you can mitigate against jeopardising their trust. You can also make sure the child knows what is happening at every step of the way- making sure they are kept involved and informed. This is critical to reinforce their positive help seeking behaviour.
Being Believed
Children have identified that their experience of talking to someone about sexual abuse was positive when:
- they were believed
- some action was taken to protect them
- emotional support was provided (Department of Health, 2010).
Many studies have identified that children worry they will not be believed. There are several reasons why they may think this:
- Their abuser has told them they won’t be believed. This can be exacerbated when they see professionals interacting with their abuser and being involved in decisions and plans about their lives.
- They have not been believed previously when trying to tell about abuse.
- They have not been believed previously when talking about other things that have happened to them.
- They are struggling to believe themselves what is happening to them, as it feels so ‘unreal’ and ‘unbelievable’.
- They observe their abuser ‘carrying on as normal’.
- Their abuser has told them that the abuse did not happen, and they must have imagined it or dreamt it.
- They didn’t tell someone immediately and feel it is now too late to be believed.
These feelings are likely to affect how they tell us what is happening to them – for example, they may be vague and appear unsure of what they are telling us.
Your responses need to be in line with safeguarding policies, which is likely to include ensuring a child’s communication with us is not influenced by your reactions ((hyperlink to section on leading questions and Part 2). However, accepting “a child’s feelings without judgement” (Baker et al 2019:7); focusing on what the child is telling us with positive body language and listening skills; and, not acting surprised or shocked at what the child says, will be conducive to creating a supportive environment where children feel comfortable talking to us about sexual abuse.
Practitioners may experience mixed messages in relation to whether or not to explicitly say to the child ‘I believe you’ when a child tells them they have been sexually abused. However, such explicit statements can be problematic and should be avoided. It is, however, important that practitioners communicate that they are listening to the child, take a stance of belief and that they care about them (hyperlink to section 2) and that they want them to talk about what is important to them.