The SriLanka hashtag introduced by the Child Protection Force last month at a workshop held in the Colombo district to teach children about body safety and educate mainly women police officers has been welcomed filling a long felt need in child protection by most child rights activists and all those involved in protecting children from physical ( and mental ) abuse.
As many of them have rightly pointed out poor understanding and misdiagnosis of child abuse cases can lead to serious problem affecting the young victims and end in re-traumatising them.
The Sunday Observer spoke to a child activist who has had hands-on experience with such cases and is happy that this innovative move has been made to fill in the gaps.
In an online interview with the Head of the Department of Psychiatry, and Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist , Colombo Teaching Hospital, Dr Yasodha Rohanachandra, Medi Snips asked her to initially tell us who exactly in Sri Lanka were involved in dealing with child protection issues as there seems to be some sort of confusion on this subject on the part of the public.
In reply she noted that as, “ Diagnosis and management of child abuse is challenging , it needs to be done with the involvement of a multidisciplinary team, including law enforcement officers, medical professionals and child protection officers. As all of them are involved in the care of victims of abuse, they all need to be educated on warning signs of abuse, psychosocial implications and the legal procedures. Police officers are often the point of first contact for victims of abuse. Unless police officers and other first respondents are aware of the subtle signs of abuse, incidents of abuse and neglect can go undetected.” she warned.
Study
Asked if any research had been carried out to reveal the extent of knowledge such officers had on important aspects of child abuse , she revealed a shocking fact: “ A study done among police officers in Sri Lanka has found that almost a quarter of them were unaware of the exact age limit of a child; and close to half had poor knowledge on the types and features of child abuse.”
She noted that, in addition to missing potential cases of child abuse, inadequate knowledge about the psychological reactions to abuse can make police officers behave in a manner which may retraumatise the victim. Drawing from her own experiences, she said , “ For example, I have come across instances where children have been forced to talk about the incident and where children have been accused of lying when they cannot recall important details of the abuse. The nature of traumatic events is such that a person may unconsciously repress certain aspects of the trauma because these memories are too painful for them to deal with. It is important for the police officers to be aware of this so that they are able to understand the victim’s reluctance to talk or their inability to recall certain details of the event.
Flaws in current education system
Continuing, She commented on several other flaws in the current education of state officers with regard to child abuse. For example, she said that, “Poor understanding of the nature of abuse can also lead to victim blaming and victim shaming by the officers involved in the child’s management. Children often delay disclosing the abuse and some incidents are only reported by children’s months after the abuse. This is often because of fear of the perpetrator, fear of parental reaction and worries about not being believed. However, I have come across several incidents where such children were blamed by the police for not coming forward sooner or accused of enjoying the sexual assault that was done to them. Such victim blaming and victim shaming is destructive, inflicts additional trauma to the victim and potentially prevents future victims from speaking out. Therefore, police officers should receive necessary training to prevent such incidents. “
Another serious flaw was how lack of knowledge can affect the way officers handle the victims during legal procedures. “ I have heard of cases where the abused child and the perpetrator were kept in the same waiting room at the police station and instances where the victim and the perpetrator were made to cross paths during court procedures. Coming face-to-face contact with the perpetrator can have devastating mental health consequences for the victim and should be avoided at any cost”, she said.
Outcome of the research
Asked what the outcome of the study was and what the investigators had suggested by way of remedying these flaws, she said , “ The investigators of this study have highlighted the need to include this topic in the basic training curriculum of police officers and the benefit of conducting continuous education programs or workshops on awareness of medico-legal issues concerning child abuse to the police officers who are involved in management of child abuse.
In addition she also said, that lack of knowledge abuse can also affect the way officers handle these children during legal procedures.
Mental impact on officers dealing with the cases
She also touched on an issue that had received scant attention to date; namely the mental impact of dealing with such cases on the offices themselves. As she says, “ “In addition to educating them about the signs of abuse and the psychosocial impact, police officers should also receive training on managing their own feelings when dealing with victims of trauma.
Professionals working with victims of abuse can sometimes suffer from vicarious trauma, which is defined as the negative emotions that these professionals may suffer due to hearing trauma stories and become witnesses to the pain, fear, and terror of abuse survivors. Vicarious trauma can leave officers feeling anxious, irritable and burnt out. Therefore, training on managing emotional reactions to trauma should also be a part of training for police officers.”, she said.
In conclusion she said, “ The Srilanka hashtag can be considered as the first step forward for the new generation of children living in 2022. We hope many more innovative educational programs to cover the entire island using all our available advanced technology will open a safer and better future for our children islandwide. Since we have the full support of the government behind us, we can make this dream of every child a reality before long”.