[WittyWenchUK]

Can an unfounded allegation of child abuse still be filed against the person accused

[JudyKayTee]

I don't understand what you are asking.

You are asking if, after an allegation of abuse has been made and the person has been found innocent or it was found that there was no abuse, can the person be charged with abuse?

[Jake2008]

It depends on many things, and in particular, what country you live in.

In Canada, anyone who reports a suspected case of abuse to the Children's Aid Society, is, or should be aware, that there will be a file opened, in order to determine if a child is at risk, or in danger of becoming abused, or is currently being abused. An investigation of some description will be initiated, which will involve doing what needs to be done in order to ensure that the child is in no danger.

Many allegations are false. Many are not. Authorities cannot take a chance or make a decision not to investigate, every allegation of child abuse has to be investigated, one way or the other. A phone call, a visit, a consultation with the attending physician in the emerg, etc.

It happens where, if the child is believed to be at risk, or is injured, or is likely to be injured, police will be called, and charges could will be laid. In which case, this is not a case without merit, and they have to act.

If an investigation has happened prior to this one, and was unfounded, and then another allegation is made toward the same person, the level of scrutiny of course, is that much higher. Or should be.

If the allegation you are referring to was deemed to be 'unfounded', that is still no guarantee that you cannot be charged. They don't burn the paperwork and forget about it. It only means that at the time the allegations were found not to be true, no further action was taken.

If you have specifics to your situation, information could probably be narrowed down a bit, but, the bottom line is, anyone investigating a report of child abuse has to be completely thourough.

[WittyWenchUK]

I'll explain in a little more detail...

A friend of mine had been working at her church's annual conference last week where her responsibilities included crowd control, security and general health and safety.

She was taken into the office on the morning of the final day and it was explained that there has been a complaint put in accusing her of apparently touching up a young female and that there was no other option than to drop her from team and send her home until further notice. She didn't know much more than that apart from when it was supposed to have happened.

The conference was attended by as many as 1200 people, mainly consisting of church youth groups accompanied by their youth leaders. When opening the barriers to allow them down to the front so they can worship more freely, there can tend to be a rush forward when the barrier initially opens. To control the situation only so many are allowed through and the steward then has the responsibility to block the entrance by standing firm and stretching their arms out. This continues at regular intervals until everyone is through. With this being the case, there can be the odd occasion where you may have to bring your arms out forcefully and yes, you may unavoidably catch someone albeit non-intentional.

The leadership of my friend's church have vouched for both her character and integrity, they also don't believe that the actual incident has occurred and so the youth leader of this young female was asked to try and get to the bottom of why the complaint had been made. It came back as the young female misinterpreting my friend’s intentions and that she blown the situation out of all proportion.

Even though the investigation didn’t need to go any further apparently the allegation still had to be filed, hence why I asked ‘can an unfounded allegation of child abuse still be filed and held against the person accused’.

Furthermore could this effect her working with children in the future?

[WittyWenchUK]

Forgot to say that we live in the UK :)

[QLP]

Your friend might find this a useful source of information, and if need be assistance:

FACT – Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers

[ScottGem]

First this is a legal question not a Children question so has been moved to the appropriate forum. In the future please take more care in choosing the appropriate forum.

Once the accusation is made, it generally needs to be recorded and followed up. An unfounded allegation is only determined to be unfounded AFTER an investigation is made.

If the investigation determined the accusation was unfounded, this would be recorded on your friends record and should not affect her future.

[WittyWenchUK]

Firstly, I would like to say thank you to you all for your advice, will be looking at the link suggested :)

Secondly, I was toying between which forum was right for this question and it seems I chose the wrong one, please acccept my sincere apologies.

[ScottGem]

No need to apologize, the advice was for future reference.