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Date Posted: 22:10:47 02/11/16 Thu
Author: Hasanur Rahman
Subject: Cleveland child abuse scandal

The Cleveland child abuse scandal refers to a 1987 wave of suspected child sexual abuse cases in Cleveland, England.

Background

At this time, the county of Cleveland, established in 1974, included three main towns: Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough.[1] In 1996 the former county was broken into four local authorities with only one retaining, in part, the name of Cleveland.[1]
History

In the years prior to the scandal, levels of reported child abuse in the Cleveland area were consistent with those of other parts of the United Kingdom.[1] However, in 1987, during the period of February to July, many children living in Cleveland were removed from their homes by social service agencies and diagnosed as sexually abused.[2] The 121 diagnoses were made by two paediatricians at a Middlesbrough hospital, Dr Marietta Higgs and Dr Geoffrey Wyatt, using a "controversial diagnostic practice" called reflex anal dilation.[2] When there were not enough foster homes in which to place the allegedly abused children, social services began to house the children in a ward at the local hospital.[1]

Later, the test being used to establish child abuse was contested by the area police surgeon and cooperation between the social workers, police and hospital doctors involved in diagnosis began to disintegrate.[1] In addition, there was public concern regarding the practices being used by the local social service agency, such as the removal of children from their homes in the middle of the night.[1] In May 1987, parents marched from the hospital where their children were being held to the local newspaper. The resulting media coverage caused the social service agency's practices to receive public scrutiny and criticism.[1] In response, the Butler-Sloss report was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Social Services in July 1987 and published in 1988.[2] The report was led by Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and it concluded that most of the diagnoses were incorrect.[2] As a result, 94 of the 121 children were returned to their homes.[2][3]

On 14 October 1991, the Children Act was implemented in full as a result of the Cleveland child abuse scandal[4] and other child related events that preceded it.[1] A TV documentary called The Death of Childhood was broadcast in 1997 and alleged that "independent experts under the guidance of the Department of Health later found that at least 70 per cent of the diagnoses" were correct.[5] According to the documentary, two years after the scandal a number of children were again referred to social services and determined to be at risk for child abuse.[5] In February 2007, the Chief Medical Officer, who was the regional medical officer at the time of the scandal, admitted that "mistakes were made". [6] A few days later, two of the children who had been the focus of the scandal asked the Middlesbrough police for an investigation of their 1987 experience.

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