Child Sexual Abuse: Pitfalls in the Substantiation Process

123 Pages·2009·3.58 MB·English

by  Anna Aprile

Children's Issues, Laws and Programs Series

C S A : P
HILD EXUAL BUSE ITFALLS
IN THE SUBSTANTIATION PROCESS

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C ' I , L
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Child Sexual Abuse: Pitfalls in the Substantiation Process
Anna Aprile, Cristina Ranzato, Melissa Rosa Rizzotto and Paola Facchin
2009. ISBN 978-1-60741-427-8
Children's Issues, Laws and Programs Series

C S A : P
HILD EXUAL BUSE ITFALLS
IN THE SUBSTANTIATION PROCESS

ANNA APRILE,
CRISTINA RANZATO,
MELISSA ROSA RIZZOTTO
AND
PAOLA FACCHINI

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
New York
Copyright © 2009 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Aprile, Anna.
Child sexual abuse : pitfalls in the substantiation process / Anna Aprile, Cristina
Ranzato.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61728-181-5 (E-Book)
1. Child sexual abuse. I. Ranzato, Cristina. II. Title.
HV6570.A67 2009
362.76'65--dc22 2009010236

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. (cid:30)  New York
CONTENTS

Preface vii
About the Authors ix
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 Sexual Abuse: A Bibliometric Analysis 5
Chapter 3 A Challenging Diagnosis: “It’s Normal to Be Normal!” 49
Chapter 4 Published Case Reports Review 61
Chapter 5 Case Report 73
Chapter 6 Thank God It Wasn’t that! 77
Chapter 7 Conclusion 89
References 91
Index 103

PREFACE

Sexual abuse is a significant issue in child and youth health, often imposing
an immediate and serious effect on child health and severe long term
consequences on adulthood. The extreme variability of observable signs of child
sexual abuse can range from the vague to the clear cut and this has led to the fact
that allegations of sexual abuse are frequently contested. The great number of
variables to be taken into consideration in the procedure of decision making
renders the substantiation process very complicated for the cases of suspected
child sexual abuse. This book explores all the aspects related to the problem of
false allegations and misdiagnoses of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). Starting from a
bibliometric research exploring the main trends and characteristics of the
international literature on CSA, a synthesis of current updated evidences and a
review of all available case reports published, the issue is tackled considering all
possible factors that may influence the professionals in arriving to a decision as to
whether or not a child has been sexually abused and in integrating empirical
research to help guide their decision-making process.