Everyday Victim Blaming

challenging institutional disbelief around domestic & sexual violence and abuse

Barriers to Reporting Rape.

Unfortunately my 15 year old daughter has experienced the 'Barriers to Reporting' and all I can say is thank god for the charity Rape Crisis! Getting help for my daughter to help cope after she was raped was an unnecessary fight - due to her age there was no domestic violence support available even though her doctor has identified she was in a domestic abuse relationship.

There was no support from the school when my daughter started to get bullied due to her right to anonymity being broken on a daily basis; their idea of helping was to isolate her and make her a victim all over again. As well as this, they were so unsupportive (this was all happening through her GCSEs), it got so bad she had to change schools 6 weeks before she left school just to complete her exams.

XXXXXXXXX
There was no support when the perpetrator broken his court bail a number of times also putting other young girls at risk and interfering with witnesses;

XXXXXX
There was no support from CAMHS or my daughters doctor when after months of her not sleeping, hardly eating, sevearly self harming and battling thoughts of suicide; they eventually diagnosed her with P.T.S disorder and she delt with this for 8months without any help dispite me voicing my concerns many times;

XXXXX
There was no support from the liason officer who was fairly new to her post and couldn't answer the majority of our questions or provide an adequate support;

XXXXX
As a parent, this is all very soul destroying. I've spent countless hours ringing round police, liason officers, doctors, schools, school board, CAMHS and charities.

XXXXX
Rape crisis have been a godsend! Although they are very limited, the support they could offer has been extremely helpful just that extra bit of support my daughter and I need as the trial gets closer!

XXXXX
I think there are far to many barriers to reporting rape and I can only speak from experience with my teenage daughter, starting from the moment its reported, the terminology used from the police/doctors/schools to the victim is vital, as is support from report to court!

XXXXX
Surely the victim needs the most support straight away not months/years later?

 

We do NOT give permission for posts published as personal experiences to be reproduced, translated or otherwise published elsewhere. We will not contact people who submit their personal experiences on behalf of journalists, bloggers or other third sector organisations. These testimonies remain the intellectual copyright of their authors and must be treated with the ethical guidelines used by academics for research involving human subjects. Our full guidelines can be read here.

Comments are currently closed.

2 thoughts on “Barriers to Reporting Rape.

  • susan says:

    Your comments on what your daughter and yourself have been through are awful to read. I’m so pleased that you both are now getting some support, and only wish other organisations that supposedly fight for justice for us all.- would get some education and wake up to what we are dealing with here! Thank you for sharing your experience, and I believe you.
    Much love. X X

  • Heather says:

    So sorry to hear about this; the support for teenagers is very patchy and must be improved. Your daughter’s experience of bullying is not unusual; it happened to me. Hope she continues with her education; if not now, there will be other chances later. (I’ve got post-graduate qualifications now.) Sending best wishes for her continuing recovery