Re: False Allegations

[Brian Morgan <brianmorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The short answer is yes, but mine has been limited to self selected or
otherwise unrepresentative cases.

There is a need it seems to me for an independent  prospective research
study and if one has already been undertaken we should be told about it.

There is some overview data in a handbook published by the Department of
Health in the UK which relates total cases referred in 1992 to outcomes
and this does show how few cases proportionately result in confirmation.

Out of 160,000 referrals only 24,500 names were added to the child
protection register. Only 3000 entered care and 3000 voluntarily
accommodated.

40,000 referrals were rejected without further investigation, and 80,000
following 120,000 family visits.

11,000 were rejected following formal investigation.

Also there is a very good academic study of the processes that are work
in child abuse investigations published by Dennis Howitt, 'Child Abuse
Errors - when good intentions go wrong', Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel
Hempstead UK  , a division of Simon and Schuster International, 1992
ISBN 0-7450-1044 - X.

Howitt provides an overview of various processes such as 'ratcheting' -
which prevent child protection investigations being reversed and
'stereotyping'.

Rand and Feldman had a paper in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry earlier
this year on misdiagnosis of Munchausen's by Proxy with several new case
studies.


Review. Misdiagnosis of Munchausen Syndrome by proxy: a literature
review and four new cases,
DC Rand and MD Feldman, pp. 94-101.
Harvard Review of Psychiatry, Volume 7, Issue 2: July/August 1999.





Allen Smith wrote:

> As long as we are on false allegations, has anyone
> done any kind of study on false allegations of child
> abuse?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Allen Smith
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