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Child sex
abuse hysteria and the Ellis case |
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The wisdom of
Gordon Waugh - Index |
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Your article Critic of
false sex-abuse claims to step down (Feb 2) could mislead those in the
sex-abuse industry into a false sense of security. Casualties of Sexual
Allegations is not "in danger of folding". Felicity
Goodyear-Smith's work in Cosa has been instrumental in drawing attention to
sex-abuse counselling malpractice and has brought about a much needed sense
of reality and healthy scepticism. That she is not standing for re-election
as president does not signal the closure of Cosa. Her imminent departure
provides a natural organisational review point The Dominion A group set up to
protect people falsely accused of sexual abuse is in danger of folding, with its
founder saying her work is done. The president of
Casualties of Sexual Allegations, Felicity Goodyear-Smith, said yesterday
that she had decided not to seek re-election in the organisation she started
about five years ago. "I feel I have
achieved what I wanted to. The impetus that got the organisation going was
the large number of recovered memory-type cases that emerged about 1994. "It is a problem
that, to a large extent, has now been resolved." Counsellors, doctors
and psychiatrists were now much more sceptical about using such methods in
sexual abuse cases, she said. "Clearly, there
are still cases of false allegations coming through but much fewer than there
used to be." Dr Goodyear-Smith said
two members of the five-strong executive committee had also decided not to
seek re-election and the others were considering their options before the
organisation's annual meeting in July. "It's early days
in terms of knowing what's happening with the organisation. "One of the
options is to still have local groups offering local support and disband the
national organisation." When first set up, the
organisation attracted a membership of about 350, two-thirds of whom were
directly involved with false allegations. Dr Goodyear-Smith,
having been involved in the establishment of the HELP foundation for sexual
abuse victims in the 1980s and often working with police examining victims,
felt the pendulum had swung too far in the complainant's favour. Ironically, she was
married to John Potter, son of Centrepoint founder Bert Potter, who was
serving a nine-year prison sentence for perjury, child sex and drugs charges.
Dr Goodyear-Smith said
she had no regrets about quitting Cosa. "It's been an
unpaid position and a very big commitment. "There are still a
lot of people out there who need support but we're not the only ones out
there to help and that's a positive thing." |
