Mandatory reporting of child abuse｜Family sexual assault social worker helps the victim to report to the police but was reprimanded by the family

"I don't think anything happened in my mind." Christina (pseudonym) was sexually assaulted by her brother at the age of 5, but she was always indoctrinated by her parents, "Brother Xi you, so you can do this kind of behavior", and was violated It took 11 years to seek help from a social worker through a friend.

The social worker called the police according to the mechanism, but the family's reaction brought another kind of harm to her.

The procedure after calling the police, Christina needed to be cross-examined accompanied by her father. The process was questioned by her family and the police, which made her very uncomfortable.

Later, her family accused her of "breaking up her family", but Christina failed to receive proper support from the school, social workers and SWD.

In order to avoid being scorned by her family, she had no choice but to run away from home.

Christina's case is not the tip of the iceberg. Among the 4 cases of "Feng Yulan" concerned with female sexual violence, the victim was under 10 years old and was ravaged by his family.

They all believed that childhood sexual assault was different from domestic violence. The victim would not have obvious scars and could only be exposed after the victim asked for help.

If the government's proposed amendment to the mandatory reporting of child abuse is passed (see separate draft), the concerns will only make the victims more afraid to express their concerns and dare not ask for help.

Further reading:

Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse｜Victims of Sexual Assault: Mandatory Reporting or Refusal to Help Advocate for Flexible Handling of Exemptions

Christina (pseudonym) is now an adult, and the unpleasant experience of being sexually abused by her brother in her childhood has been lingering. "Until Secondary 3, she suffered another kind of sexual assault, realized the seriousness of the situation, and plucked up the courage to talk to her friends.

The friend finally asked the social worker for help to report the incident, and the social worker immediately reported it to the superior and called the police: "During the meeting, he asked me if I agreed (the police), I said I disagree, but I can't agree, so he actually forced me to do so. To agree, this is an incident to call the police."

When I was underage (underage), I asked my father to watch a video in another room, which means it was a live broadcast. I wanted to be in front of him, and he wanted to know what happened in detail. In fact, I was very uncomfortable. I don't even know what to use... In fact, I have no way to control my own... facial muscles, so I tried to hide my ugliness with a smile, and then my dad said, "Actually, you are so happy that this happened. things..." Christina

What made her even more annoyed was that she called her brother who violated her sentence after he was sentenced: "He said, 'I don't know how many minutes of social service order I have given, and after I have seen the clinical psychologist, that is the time I want to see. See, I can go and have a good breakfast for everyone.” I made a good decision, that is... This judgment told me, I think I have to endure a lot, and then this judgment, in fact, I don’t I think it's a fair trade, so...if I go home, I'd rather nothing happens."

When she was only fourteen or fifteen years old at the time, Christina still felt very uncomfortable when she recounted the various experiences of the police interrogation, and she couldn't help but burst into tears.

She said that after taking the statement, she will return to the crime scene to organize the case and face a series of judicial procedures.

At that time, it was difficult for her to express herself, she would only say "I don't know", but she was repeatedly questioned, just like seeing the plot of the defense wanting to "shove up" the victim's testimony in a TV drama. Even if she lost control of her emotions during the process, neither she nor her family had anything to do with it. Get appropriate support from social workers.

Tell me, it's been happening all the time. I didn't realize that this incident was wrong. Suddenly, a group of people asked you to tell me what happened. Would I think there is some explanation?

I'm a bad guy, so what do they want to ask me?

So I don't understand, when you have something that happens all day, and then you suddenly say, it shouldn't happen... In fact, I don't understand... Christina

Victim denounced as culprit for destroying family

For Christina, the bigger harm was the accusation from her family, who believed that she had "ripped apart the head home". The social worker reported the incident according to the mechanism, and turned her, who was the original victim, into the culprit of destroying the family.

At that time, she was still young and could not cope with the great changes in her family, but she had no way to ask for help, "Because of the incident that she (the social worker) reported, I no longer trust this character, and she wanted to care about it later, or she would later regret it. I don't even want to talk to him about the situation." Christina eventually ran away from home.

Ann experienced domestic violence and sexual assault with her sister as a child.

(Photo by Huang Baoying)

It was because of this incident back then. Later, when I encountered some violations, I would choose not to talk about it with others, because I knew that if I talked to others, I would experience it again. The previous troubles of calling the police were just a few words to me. In the big haze, I think the biggest harm is not the sexual assault incident, but the series of procedures and the relationship with the housing company after the sexual assault, so even if the case may be serious, I will not choose to call the police.

Christina

Ann, a victim of domestic violence and sexual assault: her family begged us not to sue

Ann (pseudonym) suffered domestic violence and sexual assault by her family when she was a child. Because her bruised sister asked the school social worker for help, it was revealed that she was a secondary school student at the time.

She lamented that her family had been coerced by coercion since she was a child and persuaded her not to call the police. Even though her sister decided to seek help from a social worker when she grew up, her family "begged us not to sue, but to be quarantined."

The police then intervened, but under the begging of the family, they finally gave up accusing the family of the murderers, and only asked the other party to "isolate" and temporarily avoid living together.

However, after a period of time, the perpetrator returned to the home, and until Ann was in her 20s, the relationship between the two improved, but the other party took the opportunity to repeat the old trick and sexually harass her again.

She couldn't help but wonder how her family would still blame her for destroying what seemed to be a harmonious family, even if a mandatory reporting mechanism would help her with her unbearable childhood.

The most important thing is to strengthen the emotional support provided to the victim

The outside world may think that forcing informed people to report incidents can immediately stop child abuse and sexual assault from continuing.

However, the four sexual assault seekers from Feng Yulan who were interviewed, after going through the road of reporting, treatment and recovery, believed that the forced reporting and forced the victimized children to face the unbearable past, told the sexual assault experience in person, and then faced the drastic changes. Their family situation is also a "secondary injury", pushing them to a darker corner.

In the absence of other support, they said, if they had known at a young age that social workers and schools had to report sexual assault issues according to the mechanism, they would not dare to seek help.

Frankly speaking, if it takes one and a half months, or even if I have been for many years, I will not feel that one month or two months later, it will make a difference to me.

But if you don't do more emotional support or preparation, if you know the psychological preparation, you will be at a loss.

Christina

All four believe that the best solution to the problem is not the government pushing for amendments to force reporting of suspected child abuse, including requiring social workers, teachers, medical professionals and other professionals to report sexual assault cases involving persons under the age of 18. Emotional support for victims.

However, the relevant authorities have not seen that they are willing to face up to the lack of support, and they are worried that after the amendments to the bill, there will be more victims living in a miserable haze like them.

Compulsory Reporting of Child Abuse | Sexual Assault Victims: Mandatory Reporting or Refusal to Help Advocate Exemptions and Flexible Handling Existing loopholes urge clear regulations on mandatory reporting standards and forced reporting of child abuse | Di Zhiyuan expects that the number of child abuse will increase after the legislation and urge the government to strengthen supporting child abuse | Po 5-year-old boy case｜Compulsory reporting of child abuse plans to be submitted to the industry as early as the beginning of next year