The SAID Victim - What They Learn
                                ...continue...
SAID Victims educate themselves to a greater extent than others on child
abuse, and the accusations issue, and often provide information to the legal
and media professions. The falsely accused learn the accusations were pre-
dicted as a weapon in custody disputes, read about proper and improper eval-
uation techniques, inadequate investigations, the use of video taping in in-
terviews, incorrect use of subtests on MMPI scoring, new state laws on false
accusations, and learn about a national underground kidnapping movement. The
resource material constantly stresses the need for all disciplines to become
better educated and trained on the issue.
The true experts in sexual child abuse, and accusations of sexual child 
buse,
obviously cannot be employed at the level where the accusations are first as-
sessed and evaluations as to their authenticity are made. It is this level in
the mental health community where ten's of thousands of authorities are em-
ployed that education is most crucial.
SAID Victims not only learn the common characteristics of evaluations but 
lso
the education, background, and personal beliefs of the evaluators, sometimes
called validators.  Frequently the evaluations are based upon the individuals
education on behavioral indicators and the accommodation syndrome, and the
utilization of drawings, play therapy, good touch/bad touch books, and 
natom-
ical dolls.  More often than not these individuals believe that "children do
not lie".
The resource material is indicating some who do the evaluations were them-
selves victims of sexual child abuse. Sexual abuse of any child is deplor-
able, however it does not require a degree in psychology to realize these
individuals would have pre-conceived opinions when an accusation is made.
These evaluation procedures which, at times, reflect the personal history and
beliefs of the evaluators, often questionable assessment techniques, and lack
of education on the accusations issue, are conducted until the "truth" is ex-
tracted by non-objective adults who then conclude a child was sexually 
bused.
It is then common to initiate psychologically damaging therapy for children
who were not sexually abused but were parental pawns in custody or visitation
disputes.
SAID Victims also learn about psychological assessment techniques that are
used by the mental health community to determine, for example, an alleged 
er-
petrator's child abuse potential.  One such technique, The Child Abuse Poten-
tial Inventory, consists of 160 statements to which the respondent agrees or
disagrees with; the irony of this assessment tool is that just under half of
the statements appear to characterize persons who have been falsely accused
of child abuse.
Improper evaluations and incomplete investigations lead to what is defined as
"false positives".  They result in the alleged abuser's name being entered in
a state register as a child abuser and the alleged victim becomes a victim. 
o
where in the resource material on national and state victim advocate groups 
s
it seen that SAID Victims, or other falsely accused individuals, get 
lassifi-
ed as do victims of crime or domestic violence.
The present assessment techniques, which originated and are known by those at
the top of the mental health community, indicate important educational 
hanges
are required, and these changes must be correlated with state and local child
protection agencies.
It appears that the mental health community, and other disciplines, have not
fully learned or implemented the lessons taught by, for example, the Scott
County case or the McMartin preschool case regarding evaluation and investi-
gation procedures. Both are still current controversies in the most recent
resource material.
The many states that have had lawsuits filed against them basically caused
their own problems. State child abuse task forces that do not consider the
concerns of all professionals in the mental health community and state agen-
cies that limit training of state personnel to selected individuals are not
adequately fulfilling their role as true child advocates. Lawsuit claims of
'not providing adequate training in sexual abuse' are inherently correct.
State agencies also need to provide specialized training on the sex abuse
accusations that occur in custody and visitation disputes.  Because of the
dynamics involved in the accusation cases training on sexual child abuse
alone is no longer adequate.  The granting of judicial immunity to perform
one's duties is different than being fully responsible for one's actions,
or having absolute immunity.  There are mental health experts, as well as
other individuals, who can provide this training, and whom state agencies
have generally excluded in the past.
>>> End - The SAID Victim, Part 5 of 6: Reid Kimbrough---
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