The Israeli Independent Public - Abstract of the Inquiry Report - December 2021

The third theme that arose from testimonies that described beneficial treatment of the child following disclosure of abuse indicates the importance of out-of-home placements. These were described as providing an adequate alternative to a good and protective home – something that children who had undergone intra-familial sexual abuse were profoundly in need of in order to heal, go on living and developing, and begin to recover from the severe maltreatment they had suffered. Participants shared that such out-of-home placements provided beneficial services such as a “safe home” – a place where they were welcome and where they wanted to be, an anchor of stability. The last theme concerns the importance that survivors attach to the fact that adults in their surroundings choose to believe them. This theme is emphasized, for example, in the experience of one of the survivors, who mostly remembers the disclosure rather than the abuse itself, and the feeling that she was believed nonetheless; another testimony describes a feeling of empowerment when the existence of the abuse was validated. This theme indicates the profound need of child victims to be believed. This need is significant in and of itself, and not just because it is important in order to stop the abuse.

The Israeli Independent Public Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

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