Three children who attended a child sexual abuse unit in Galway last year were just one year old, a conference on responding to children who disclose sexual abuse has been told.
The average age of the 73 children seen at the unit last year was seven, Dr Joanne Nelson, consultant paediatrician and clinical director of the Galway child and adolescent sexual assault treatment service, told the conference in Sligo on Friday. The most common age for a child presenting for examination was four, and the oldest child was 16. Two-thirds female Data from the unit, which is the only one in the country with a 24-hour service, shows two-thirds of those attending were female and most were referred by gardaí. They came from Galway, Clare, Donegal, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois and Longford.
Dr Nelson said Galway had one forensic room, shared with adult services, and three examiners on a one-in-three rota, in addition to the hospital rotas.
She said the service offered in Dublin involved two paediatricians, who examine children during in-hours and who have one clinic a fortnight each.
“Come a weekend, if they are not on call, there is no service within Dublin,” she said. There is one paediatrician in Cavan, who sees about 10 patients a year and there are three busy general paediatricians in Cork on an acute rota, who may or may not be able to help, Dr Nelson said. There is also one part-time paediatrician in Waterford, working in-hours.
She wanted to see three specialised centres with 24-hour services and a system where a service could be received locally, in a scheduled fashion. This would mean children “did not have to travel for four hours from Donegal to Galway to be examined and vomit in the car”.
“We are chasing best practice and we have a very long way to go,” she said. The need for co-operation among professionals working in the area of child sexual abuse was emphasised by speakers, as well as the need to prevent multiple interviews, by various agencies, of children who allege sexual abuse.
National protocol
Det Supt
Declan Daly
said there would be a more robust interagency approach in future. A joint specialist interviewing committee had been established with Tusla and gardaí, he said, and a national protocol for specialist interviewing would be developed.
Family law barrister Natalie McDonnell said children had a right to have the best possible evidence placed before a court charged with making decisions about them.
Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Maeve Mangaoang said children with disabilities were three times more likely to be abused than other children.
The conference, “Getting it Right”, was organised by Tigala, an agency for court-appointed, guardians ad litem, ie guardians appointed to act on behalf of a child not considered capable of representing themselves.
