Okay, I have a kind of complicated question and I'm hoping theres a child psychologist in the house who can possibly help me answer this.
This is the situation with one of my characters. She is divorced and has a young old child. At the age of 3 this child underwent some changes in behaviour and habits. IE: she was emotional, whiney, had recurrent nightmares and was difficult to potty train. During this time period, the mother was seeking help from a close friend about the childs behavioural changes. This friend, who also happened to be an abuse counselor for the state, said she would willingly interview the child as a favor, but if she noticed any indication there was abuse involved, she was a "mandatory reporter" and would have to report it.
In the meantime, before the meeting with this counselor happened, the child woke up at daycare screaming from a nightmare. The daycare teacher cuddles the child and asks what is wrong. the child says to the daycare provider "my daddy hurt me in the bum with a knife."
The daycare provider being a mandatory reporter also, reports the incident immediately to the police and the mother. Soon after, the child is subjected to a visit with the local sex abuse clinic. Through many interviews and physical examinations, it is determined that there is no solid evidence against this dad since the "knife" in question could have easily been a toy that dad patted her on the butt with etc etc. Because of the laws in the state, the social workers and police decline to attempt to press charges as there is a law that states no child can be taken to court more than once for allegations of sex abuse.
In the meantime, the local social worker contacts the father and basically counsels him on what is appropriate and what is not, letting him know exactly what happened.
The conundrum is this, now that no charges are being pressed, the mom is worried the child is being manipulated into "not talking." She is forced to release her children to the father for his visitation because there is no legal reason to keep the children away from their father.
Even though she knows it is nothing to be taken lightly, mom struggles with believing that the father is capable of this abuse. But being no dummy, she continues to take her child regularly to see a social worker. The area she struggles with as a mother is this: She believes it would have been better for the social worker not to have basically "warned" the father that there were suspicions. The father was abused as a child himself, and has issues with compulsions including pornography/sex related issues.
The child is now 4 years old and is very careful about what she says to mom, guarded where her father is concerned. Mom is worried that the child is being manipulated somehow by the father into "not telling".
From a psychologists standpoint, how would a psychologist deal with a child who was being manipulated like this in order to get them to talk about the abuse? What kind of manipulation tools do predators employ on young children?
I had lots of counsel on this from the Social work end, but I am stuck with the psychology part because frankly, I dont know any psychologists! heh Or should I be looking more into Child Psychiatry and what is the difference?
Any help much appreciated!
This is the situation with one of my characters. She is divorced and has a young old child. At the age of 3 this child underwent some changes in behaviour and habits. IE: she was emotional, whiney, had recurrent nightmares and was difficult to potty train. During this time period, the mother was seeking help from a close friend about the childs behavioural changes. This friend, who also happened to be an abuse counselor for the state, said she would willingly interview the child as a favor, but if she noticed any indication there was abuse involved, she was a "mandatory reporter" and would have to report it.
In the meantime, before the meeting with this counselor happened, the child woke up at daycare screaming from a nightmare. The daycare teacher cuddles the child and asks what is wrong. the child says to the daycare provider "my daddy hurt me in the bum with a knife."
The daycare provider being a mandatory reporter also, reports the incident immediately to the police and the mother. Soon after, the child is subjected to a visit with the local sex abuse clinic. Through many interviews and physical examinations, it is determined that there is no solid evidence against this dad since the "knife" in question could have easily been a toy that dad patted her on the butt with etc etc. Because of the laws in the state, the social workers and police decline to attempt to press charges as there is a law that states no child can be taken to court more than once for allegations of sex abuse.
In the meantime, the local social worker contacts the father and basically counsels him on what is appropriate and what is not, letting him know exactly what happened.
The conundrum is this, now that no charges are being pressed, the mom is worried the child is being manipulated into "not talking." She is forced to release her children to the father for his visitation because there is no legal reason to keep the children away from their father.
Even though she knows it is nothing to be taken lightly, mom struggles with believing that the father is capable of this abuse. But being no dummy, she continues to take her child regularly to see a social worker. The area she struggles with as a mother is this: She believes it would have been better for the social worker not to have basically "warned" the father that there were suspicions. The father was abused as a child himself, and has issues with compulsions including pornography/sex related issues.
The child is now 4 years old and is very careful about what she says to mom, guarded where her father is concerned. Mom is worried that the child is being manipulated somehow by the father into "not telling".
From a psychologists standpoint, how would a psychologist deal with a child who was being manipulated like this in order to get them to talk about the abuse? What kind of manipulation tools do predators employ on young children?
I had lots of counsel on this from the Social work end, but I am stuck with the psychology part because frankly, I dont know any psychologists! heh Or should I be looking more into Child Psychiatry and what is the difference?
Any help much appreciated!