AN ANALYSIS OF ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE IN A MULTI-VICTIM DAY-CARE-CENTER CASE

Sexual abuse in day-care centers is a phenomenon of increasing concern , both in terms of its prevalence and its serious effects on child vic tims. Legal intervention in this area is problematic because criminal investigations are usually beset with difficulties: Characteristics of children and of the abuse situation affect disclosure rates and credi bility. Research on children as witnesses is amassing; however, so far , little systematic analysis has been conducted on multi-victim child sexual abuse cases. The present study concerns a case of sexual abuse in a day-care center with over 100 alleged victims. Criteria derived f rom Statement Validity Analysis (SVA) protocols were applied to aggreg ate record review data to assess the veritability of the abuse allegat ions. Individual children's abuse disclosures were also analyzed, vis- a-vis characteristics of the children (age, gender, recency of attenda nce) and of the investigation (agency doing the interview, number of i nterviews, use of anatomically detailed dolls). The use of SVA criteri a supported the veritability of allegations in this day-care abuse cas e. Even acknowledging the limitations of archival data collected for o ther purposes, the aggregate data analysis reflected consistency, logi cal structure, and spontaneity; however, little evidence of accommodat ion was found. Multivariate comparison of disclosing and nondisclosing children found an unexpected inverse relationship of disclosure with age, as well as positive associations with number of interviews and us e of dolls. Alternative interpretations of these results are discussed .