FARE
February 8, 2002
Drop In Sexual Abuse Allegations No Surprise,
But Sure To Rise Again
Press Release (Darryl Ward)
"The drop in reported sexual abuse allegations is no surprise,
but they are sure to rise again, driven mostly by changes in Government
policy", Families Apart Require Equality (FARE) spokes person Darryl
Ward said today.
"Allegations of sexual abuse peaked in the early 1990's around the time
of the Peter Ellis trial when the abuse industry contributed to a state of
hysteria by making outrageous claims such as there being widespread practice
of satanic abuse. Lump sum payouts by ACC helped fuel the hysteria. We know
of numerous examples of cases of psychologists convincing children that they
had been sexually abused by their fathers when they had not been. In some
cases children who had exhibited signs of bed-wetting, a common childhood
phenomenon, were asked such questions by psychologists as 'where did your
father touch you', and when the children replied that they had not, the
answers were ignored."
"At the same time, malicious false accusations of sexual abuse were a
popular weapon in acrimonious Family Court proceedings. They ensured that one
parent could easily eliminate any chance the other parent, usually the
father, may have had of retaining reasonable custody or access to his children.
However, these became less popular as the public grew wary of the outrageous
claims of the abuse industry, and false accusations of domestic violence
became a much quicker and more popular tool to eliminate a father's role in
the family."
"However, accusations of sexual abuse will certainly rise again and
there will be new epidemic of false allegations now that ACC has announced it
will reintroduce lump sum payouts for alleged abuse when there is no proof
required of any abuse having occurred."
"Canada is reeling from the injustice of a similar programme to
compensate people alleging past abuse in institutions in Nova Scotia. A total
of 25 abuse complaints had been filed alleging 9 government employees had
been abusers. But when a plan was announced to financially compensate the
victims, the number of alleged abuse complaints shot up to 1500, and the
number of government employees accused to 400. Payouts reached $35 million
and countless innocent government employees have had their lives and careers
ruined."
"The odds of a payout under the new ACC lump sum scheme are certainly
better than lotto", concluded Ward.
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