Many Americans applauded when laws were enacted to protect children from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. I was one of them, having worked with emotionally disturbed children, many of whom had been victims of such abuse. Clearly, the intent of these laws was good. Just as clearly, however, the consequences have been disastrous. The laws and the enforcement procedures related to child abuse too often deny human and constitutional rights to both the accused and the alleged victim. Indeed, observers have likened the climate created by these laws to that of Salem, during the witch hunt, to that of Nazi Germany in 1939, or to that of the McCarthy era in the 1950s. In the U.S. in 1985, reported cases of suspected child abuse totaled 1.7 million. Of the reports involving sexual abuse,80% were later determined to have been unfounded --up from 40% just five years earlier. Half of the substantiated cases of child abuse involved neglect, not other types of abuse; only 7% of the substantiated cases involved sexual abuse. Accusations of child abuse bring suffering and distress to everyone involved. It has been estimated, for example, that as many as 80% of those who are falsely accused of child abuse lose their jobs or suffer other employment problems. Hundreds of people have had to undergo traumatic investigations to establish their innocence; others have had to take part in corrective activities for things they did not do. IndiŽviduals falsely accused of child abuse have been psychologically scarred, and their reputations have been severely tarnished. Whole families have been destroyed.
www.nfpcar.org/Reform/Our_Story/VocalArticle.htm
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