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Below is information helptful to the family or guardian of child survivors of child abuse:
Remember ... You and your child are not alone!
Foothills Alliance is equipped to help you and your family. All survivors and secondary survivors of sexual assault are welcome to take advantage of the full services offered at no cost. Please feel free to contact us for
information, individual or group counseling, and support.
Please use our 24-hour hotline, (800) 585-8952, for immediate crisis counseling.
Children who are sexually assaulted have many of the same feelings and suffer the same emotional pain as adults. It is hard to predict how a child will react. Many children appear very upset. Other children show very little reaction. Some of the common reactions children may experience are:
| Psychological |
Physical |
Social |
- New fears (dark, being alone, going to bed, etc.)
- Nightmares
- Low self-esteem
- Depression
- Anger or aggression
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- Inability to sleep
- Loss of appetite
- Bed- or pant-wetting
- Change in bathroom habits
- Nausea/upset stomach
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- Increased quietness
- Withdrawal from people
- Fussiness
- Attention seeking / Clinging to parents
- Problems in school
- Sexual play with friends or toys
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Comforting a child survivor of assault can be very difficult.
Because parents and guardians often need as much support as the child needs, it is important to get the support you need so that you can be at your best to help your child. Some ways to help your child are:
- Reassure your child that he or she is safe.
- Let your child know that what happened was not his or her fault. It did not happen because he or she was bad.
- Provide care and love.
- If she/he wants to talk about the assault, allow them to. Ask a counselor how you can help your child talk about his or her concerns, questions, and fears. Keep a record of what your child says. (Be careful not to initiate such conversations, as it may affect the prosecution, if there is one).
- Reassure your child that he or she is not permanently hurt.
- Try not to show anger around your child. Children may interpret your anger at the offender with anger at him or her.
- Help your child to keep his or her normal routine.
- Get professional help. Sexual assault crisis centers have counselors specially trained to help children and non- offending parents. They can also help you work with the police, the hospital and the legal system.
Please see Counseling Services for information regarding available services and counseling benefits.
These materials will attempt to answer, briefly, questions you may have about the legal procedures followed by the police and court system when a sexual assault is reported. All cases differ, however, so do not be concerned if the handling of your case deviates somewhat. If you do have questions about the propriety or purpose of a procedure, you should talk to your attorney.
Reporting to Law Enforcement
- You should consent to allow the child to have a Sexual Assault Evidence Exam.
- You are encouraged to have a victim advocate present with you and the child at the hospital.
- The child's name will be on the criminal warrant (legal document authorizing an arrest).
- The child's name will appear on the indictment (legal document accusing a person of a crime).
- The child will be interviewed by law enforcement, medical staff, investigator (detective), and prosecutor (your attorney).
Police's Role and Procedures
The police are generally the first people called when an assault occurs. Their job is to assure that the child is taken care of and the evidence is gathered. It is a good idea for you to contact the police even if you are not sure about prosecuting the case. It is better to have the evidence gathered, even if it is not used, than to lose the evidence and later try to prosecute. When reporting to the police, you do not have to decide whether you want to press charges at this point.
| Procedure |
Description |
| Immediate assistance |
The police will follow a routine procedure when you report an assault:
- Transport you and the child to a hospital for treatment, and gather evidence.
- Contact sexual assault support services, if requested.
- Procure other needed services for you and the child.
- Interview the child and any other witnesses. The initial police interview will be fairly short.
- Examine the scene of the crime and collect any available physical evidence (e.g. hair, skin, blood, semen samples, fingerprints, photographs).
- Assign a police investigator trained to handle sexual assault cases, along with a victim-witness coordinator, who will be called in as soon as possible and who will conduct follow-up investigations.
- Take steps to identify perpetrator (if unknown to the victim), and to arrest perpetrator as soon as possible.
- Testify at all hearings as to their findings.
This process may take anywhere from a few days or weeks to months or even longer. The police may contact you on several occasions to obtain all the information needed. |
| Providing an official statement; investigation |
After you contact the police, they will need a statement of exactly what happened, including a description of the offender (if it was a stranger) and where the attack happened. You may be asked to sign this statement. If later other information comes out, you should call the police to correct the statement. You should be careful not to wash or throw out any items related to the assault. You should tell the police about them because they may need to collect these items, including clothing or linens, as evidence. The police may need to contact you during their investigation. Arrests do not always happen quickly or at all.
Someone from the prosecutor's office (a prosecutor or an investigator) may contact you after the offender is arrested. You also may be contacted by a Victim Advocate who works for the Office of Victim Services with prosecutors and victims. A sexual assault counselor can help you and the child through the legal process.
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Solicitor's Role and Procedures
The Solicitor is an attorney who represents the state in having the perpetrator brought to justice. You will not have to pay for a solicitor; one will be appointed to you. The Solicitor's role includes:
| Procedure |
Description |
| Evaluating evidence |
Evaluating evidence from the police to determine if enough proof exists to find the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If Solicitor does not believe the evidence supporting the case is strong enough, the charges may be dropped. Dropping the charges does not mean that the State does not believe you, only that the evidence is too weak. In some cases the evidence is tainted by improper police procedures violating the accused's Constitutional rights. In such circumstances crucial evidence may exist, but be inadmissible at trial. |
| Appearing at a bond hearing |
The hearing is to determine if the accused will be kept in jail or freed until trial. Bond is a payment of money or security in the form of property given to the court to assure the accused will appear at trial. The Solicitor may oppose bond or request a high bond if the crime was violent, or if there is reason to believe the accused will flee. The Solicitor can request the Court to require that the accused stay away from the victim as a condition of bond. |
| Conducting a preliminary hearing |
Approximately three weeks after the bond hearing, a preliminary hearing is held. The purpose of this hearing is for the Solicitor to present enough incriminating evidence to the judge to justify sending the charge to the grand jury for formal indictment. As with the bond hearing, you will have the option of attending the preliminary hearing. However, in some cases, the solicitor may require you to be there. After the hearing the judge has two options: dismiss the case because there isn't enough evidence, or send the case to the Grand Jury. |
| Supervising presentation of the case to the grand jury |
A jury of 18 local citizens reviews the evidence and determines whether or not to indict the accused. The solicitor may ask the child to testify, but usually does not. The Grand Jury will either issue a "No Bill" in which they decide that the case will not go to trial, or a "True Bill" or indictment, where they decide that the case will continue to be bound over the General Sessions Court and eventually go to trial. |
| Negotiating any plea agreement |
A plea agreement can be reached at almost any point in the case and is usually initiated by the accused. Factors considered in entering a plea agreement include strength of prosecution case, caseload, and survivor's wishes. Some victims prefer a plea agreement since there is no trial and no need to testify. Other victims may oppose a plea agreement because they feel the accused may not be punished appropriately. |
| Conducting the trial |
The Solicitor prepares the case for trial and presents it in court. Someone from the Solicitor's office will help prepare the child to answer questions in court. If your case goes to a jury trial you will receive a subpoena, a written summons ordering you to appear in the courtroom on the day of the trial. The first day of the trial is used to select a jury. The child may then be called to tell the story of what happened to the Jury. The Solicitor will ask questions to help the child tell what happened. Then the attorney for the accused (with limited exceptions) will ask questions. |
| Jury verdict |
After all the evidence has been presented, the Judge will instruct the jury on the law and emphasize that guilt must be determined by the presence of the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.
The jury will move to a private room to discuss the case. Its vote must be unanimous; all 12 must vote one way. When they return to the courtroom, one of the jurors renders their decision to the court. If the defendant is found guilty, then you have the option to express your feelings about the rape. If you do not want to do it verbally, you may turn in a "Victim impact statement" which will help the judge determine a sentence.
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Comparison of Criminal Case vs. Civil Case
| Issue |
Criminal case |
Civil case |
| Type of case |
A criminal case will be opened if you wish the assailant to be charged with a crime and prosecuted by the state.
It is a criminal case if the state is charging one or more individuals with a crime.
The Rape Shield Law applies. This means that the child's sexual history, if any, cannot be used in court with limited exceptions.
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A Civil Case is opened if you wish to hire a private attorney to sue the assailant or a third party for personal damages.
You can sue a third party, a business or a person, who failed to provide reasonable safety. Usually this requires a relationship such as employee-workplace, student-campus, guest-hotel, tenant-landlord, etc.
A civil suit can be used alone, in addition, or after a criminal case.
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| Court decision |
The defendant (assailant) must be found "guilty beyond reasonable doubt."
Once tried as a criminal case, it cannot be tried again in criminal court.
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Standard of proof is lower, meaning that the jury does not have to be unanimous for your child, the victim, to prevail. |
| Evidence exam |
An Evidence Exam within 72 hours of the incident will serve to collect as much evidence as possible. |
The Evidence Exam may still be used in a civil case. |
| Fees |
Your child's medical and legal fees are paid for by the state. |
If your child wins, the defendant is ordered to pay money for damages caused. These may include medical expenses, loss of income, tuition, pain and suffering, etc. |
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