Tips on dealing with disclosures

Children and young people are most likely to disclose abuse to adults they trust, so professionals working with them have a special responsibility.

How you respond to a disclosure from a child or young person is crucial. In this instance it is important to consider the following points.

• Put your own feelings aside and listen as if the information is not sensational.
• Provide reassurance that you believe them and do not think that they are to blame or make judgements about what has happened.
• Allow them to talk but protect them from sharing the information with too many other people.
• Once you have established that they have been harmed or are at risk of being harmed, do not pursue the conversation any further. This is important to ensure that questions cannot be raised later about possible manipulation of the disclosure.
• Do not ask leading questions, for instance “Did Daddy hit you?
• Never promise to keep the information secret.
• Never make false promises.
• Never ask questions that may make the child feel guilty or inadequate
• Stay close to them after the disclosure to provide a sense of security.
• Tell them that it will be necessary to contact child protection authorities and that you will support them through that process.
• Respect the confidentiality of the disclosure and do not share the information with anyone other than the appropriate authorities within your organisation and either the Department for Community Development or the Police.
• Document the conversation that you have had remembering as accurately as you can, the words and phrases used by the child young person to describe what has happened to them.
• If you are unable to answer all the questions of the child or young person, it is ok to let them know.