If a child has come to with their trust to tell you they are or have been abused, your need to remember that they would rarely lie about such a serious thing. it very rare that a child would like about this sort of thing. It of course will be hard to believe or understand how someone can do this to the child.

The child will feel very pressured in keeping the abuse a secret, it take a lot of courage to talk about the abuse they have suffered. They child may claim the sexual abuse didn’t happen (when in fact it actually did happen) or they take back what they said due to fear of the abuser this is common within a child disclosing their experience of sexual abuse.

Be there for them help support them never just ignore what they are telling you, try and encourage them to talk about the they suffered. When the child is telling you about the abuse stay clam don’t show any anger as this will make the child feel that you are angry at them and this may make the child think they have done wrong and you are going to punish them.

The child will need a lot of caring shown to them, make sure the child knows you are there for them and care for them (in a non sexual way), reassure the child “you’ve done nothing wrong,” and that they have done the right thing by telling someone.