ABSTRACT
A wide range of factors affect disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA) and there is considerable variability in the timing and reasons for children's eventual disclosure of CSA. Disclosures of CSA may be accidental, that is, revealed in the course of a conversation whose subject was other than CSA. Intentional and immediate disclosures are significantly more common when the alleged perpetrator is extra-familial and least likely to occur when the perpetrator is a natural parent. Paradoxically, developmental factors such as age, level of cognitive development and social awareness may have both inhibiting and facilitating effects on disclosure. The idiosyncratic use of language in young children poses challenges for police and the courts, particularly when there are no other sources of evidence that sexual abuse has occurred. Parental alienation (PA) has been documented in the scholarly literature and acknowledged as a significant issue by the Family Court of Australia and internationally, particularly in the USA.
