Protect mothers, believe the child: the recommendations of the Incest Commission

Europe 1 with AFP 10:55 am, October 27, 2021, modified at 10:56 am, October 27, 2021

The Incest Commission recommends suspending the exercise of parental authority and the visitation rights of a parent prosecuted for incest to "better protect children", in its first opinion issued on Wednesday.

After receiving hundreds of testimonies from mothers of abused children, the Independent Commission on Incest and Child Sexual Violence (Ciivise) makes three recommendations.

Three strong measures to fight incest

As soon as an investigation is opened for incest, the commission recommends to "suspend" the criminal proceedings for "non-representation of a child" against a parent who refuses to leave his child to the suspected parent.

Many women are faced with this dilemma: respect the law and let their child spend time with their father or protect their child and risk being sued.

The mother who wants to protect her child from the incestuous father must be protected, for the Ciivise. 

Then, if criminal proceedings are instituted against a parent for incest, the right of visitation and accommodation must be suspended "as of right", as well as "the exercise of parental authority".

"We secure the child", explains Judge Édouard Durand, co-president of Ciivise. 

Finally, in the event of a conviction of a parent for incestuous rape or sexual assault, the exercise of parental authority must be withdrawn automatically, according to the Ciivise.

Since the start of its work in March, the Ciivise has received "calls for help" from hundreds of mothers whose children have revealed sexual violence by their father.

Instead of being heard by institutions, they are suspected of manipulating their child to harm their spouse, most often in the context of a separation.

Commission calls on the child to be believed

The risk is not to invent violence but not to protect victims, notes the Ciivise, which calls for "believing the child" and notes that "scientific studies show that false denunciations of mistreatment are marginal in a context of parental separation ".

Each year, 22,000 children are subjected to sexual violence at the hands of their fathers, according to Ciivise.

Yet in 2020, only 1,697 people were prosecuted for incestuous rape of a minor or sexual assault on a minor.

"We have to find these children. We cannot know that 22,000 children are concerned and, when we have one in front of us, say: 'this is not the right one'", comments Judge Durand.

"We listen to adults who, at 40 or 70, express the suffering caused to them by incest. Child victims, we must believe them today, not wait until they are 40 years old."