RELATED GUIDANCE
1. Introduction
Child abuse linked to faith or belief can include:
- belief in concepts of witchcraft and spirit possession, demons or the devil acting through children or leading them astray, the evil eye or djinns and dakini are beliefs which are reported to be held by several faiths and cultures;
- ritual or muti murders where the killing of children is believed to bring supernatural benefits or the use of their body parts is believed to produce potent magical remedies;
- use of fear of the supernatural to make children comply with being trafficked for domestic slavery or sexual exploitation;
- children being blamed for bad luck, such as telephoning a wrong number which is believed by some to allow malevolent spirits to enter the home.
This is not an exhaustive list.
2. Risk Factors
Not all those who believe in witchcraft or spirit possession harm children. Data on numbers of known cases suggest that only a small minority of people with such beliefs go on to abuse children, although under-reporting is likely. The number of cases of child abuse linked to faith or belief in spirits, possession and witchcraft is believed to be small, but where it occurs it causes much distress and suffering to the child.
There are some common features where faith or belief is a factor in abuse.
Firstly, there is sometimes a wider social or community consensus that witchcraft, for example, actually exists. Sometimes a faith leader or other influential figure is at the centre, promoting the belief and methods of resolving the supposed problem by harming children. Parents or carers have also been key perpetrators in many of the known cases. This can make the abuse harder to find out about, harder to get evidence to prosecute and harder to prevent in future.
There is also the internal logic of the belief, which in the case of spirit possession, for example, is that the child is the victim of a supernatural force and the abuse is therefore understood by perpetrators as a means of saving the child – driving out the devil – in other words perpetrators may perversely believe that they are doing the right thing. Even where there is no intention to save the child, the belief that the child can harm others can generate a real fear in those who would normally be expected to protect the child, including parents or close family. This fear that a child may cause harm to, or kill, siblings, parents and other family or friends can be a critical factor in the abuse.
In some cases, there are also real-world factors underlying the abuse. This is sometimes described as the scapegoating of children to reconcile misfortune that has occurred to the family or community, such as an adult family member becoming unemployed or being in poverty. In these situations, those who are different because they have some special traits (such as being particularly bright, having difficult behaviour, having a disability or children living away from their parents) are the target of scapegoating, being accused of having caused the misfortune by supernatural means. The most vulnerable people within a group offer the least ability to resist being scapegoated, and children are a group who are inherently vulnerable, needing protection from adults around them.
3. Safeguarding Children
Standard safeguarding procedures apply in all cases where abuse or neglect is suspected to be related to particular belief systems.
Where there is a risk of significant harm to a child, a referral should be made to children’s social care and safeguarding processes engaged (see Referrals chapter). The police should also be notified in order to engage with multi-agency safeguarding procedures and to investigate possible criminal offences.
Action must be taken to assess and address the child’s health needs as this form of abuse can involve physical abuse such as physical restraint and assault and less visible abuse such as forcing the child to drink harmful ‘potions’.
4. Supporting Victims
Victims of this crime are left scarred (often mentally and physically) by their experiences. Often young and vulnerable to start with, victims suffer from abuse at the hands of those they may be expected to trust. Those children may also share a belief in the supernatural with their abuser including that they are, or are possessed by, an evil force.
They are likely to require ongoing support to help them to make sense of and recover from their experiences.
