There is societal pressure on a child who has been sexually abused by a family member not to have any further contact with their abuser, but that may not be in the best interests of the child, a conference on restorative justice was told this morning.
Speaking at the Cari 20th anniversary conference in Dublin, clinical director of the charity Niall Muldoon said restorative justice could be an adjunct to the legal system in addressing sexual abuse.
Cari provides psychotherapy for those affected by child sexual abuse, its conference addressed whether restorative justice could work in the context of child sexual abuse.
Restorative justice brings all those involved with an offence together to deal with and resolve collectively the aftermath of the offence.
Mr Muldoon, who has worked in child protection and with adults who have sexually offended against children, said 75 per cent of child abusers are people the child already knows.
"As a child grows up who suffered sexual abuse they recognise at different stages that as a result of what happened to them at four or five they now have no contact with their father, their uncle or their brother," he said.
They realise their whole family has been impacted. There may be a huge split and the child is in the middle of all this, carrying the burden of the pain and the anger. They are the focus for a lot of family members and may be carrying bitterness from a whole range of adults, which causes harm.
"If for some reason that child thinks at 14 or 15 they would like to have contact with their father... how do they bring that forward?" Mr Muldoon asked.
"We need to recognise there is a societal pressure on the child not to have contact with the person... but some children may want to."
He said there is no guarantee that restorative justice could work for such children and should not replace the legal system, but could work as an adjunct to it.
"If you've married someone who hurts your children it must be unfathomable to give them the time of day... but you cannot take a step forward and produce a healthier society if you don't work with your enemy," he said.
