True and false disclosures, true and false denials: Believing and disbelieving childrens allegations of abuse

Abstract

Abstract Social workers need to modify some of the more sweeping prescriptions and procedures still widely advocated in relation to the assessment of child abuse, particularly sexual abuse, such as ‘believe the child’ and ‘tell her you believe her’. The article gives examples of children and parents making untrue allegations and being initially believed, and also making true denials and being initially disbelieved. Reference is made to the growing literature relating to testing the credibility of children's allegations, and to the evidence that a small proportion of these would appear to be false.