Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
How to respond if the child discloses abuse i) Believe him or her. The most important thing is to believe the child. Children rarely lie about abuse; what is more common is a child denying that abuse happened when it did. Tell the child you believe him/her. ii) Don’t be emotionally overwhelmed and try to remain composed while talking to the child. iii) Do not interrogate the child. It can be traumatic for the child to repeat his/her story numerous times. Leave the questioning to the legal and police personnel. iv) Reassure the child that the abuse is not their fault. The child's greatest fear is that he or she is responsible for the abuse. Be sure to make it clear that what happened is not a result of anything he/she did or did not do. This is particularly important when the accused person is a member of the child‟s family, such as his or her father, and the child feels guilty at having put that person to trouble. Reassure them that prompt and adequate steps will be taken to stop the abuse. v) Do not make promises you can’t keep. Do not make promises such as the child will never have to see the abuser again, that nothing will change, or other such promises. vi) Believing and supporting the child are two of the best actions to start the healing process. Appropriate and helpful responses to disclosures are as follows: a) “I am glad you told me, thank you for trusting me.” b) “You are very brave and did the right thing.” c) “It wasn‟t your fault.” The counsellor should be aware that the effects of child sexual abuse are long-term and can change the world view and the course of life of the child. The first step in the healing process is for the child to talk about the abuse, and it is the counsellor‟s duty to facilitate this; however, the process of recovery may be long and the child will have other needs that the counsellor can attend to. These include: 43 i) Rapport Building, ii) working on the feelings of the child, iii) Psychological Education on safe and unsafe touches, feelings, thoughts and behaviour, safer coping techniques iv) Helping the child to understand the abuse was not their fault; v) Helping the child to develop of or regain their self-confidence; vi) Provide sex education; vii) Encourage appropriate social behaviour; viii) Help the child to identify people who can form a supportive social environment around him or her. The counsellor is therefore a very important tool for the child in rebuilding his or her life after he has been sexually abused.