International researchers and child protection service workers beliefs about child sexual abuse disclosure and statement validity

How child victims of sexual abuse disclose their experiences is contested among experts. We surveyed international researchers (N = 199) and child protection service workers (N = 267) on their beliefs regarding how victims of child sexual abuse cope with and disclose their experiences, and how these disclosure patterns affect the validity of statements given by maltreated children. We found some points of disagreement among experts related to, for example, recantation and denial frequency. However, there were also certain points of agreement such as that children often delay disclosure, and that false denials can affect statement validity (i.e. the accuracy and truthfulness of a statement) negatively. However, the majority of both expert groups agreed that statements made after denial or recantations should be admissible as evidence in court. Expert witnesses could take areas of agreement into account when giving testimony in child sexual abuse cases.