IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v179y2025ics019074092500489x.html

Accounting for inequities in accessing support following sexual abuse: a case analysis of a family with a migration background

Author

Listed:
  • Capella, Claudia
  • Boddy, Janet
  • Tornero, María de los Angeles
  • Velilla, Camila
  • Nuñez, Lucía
  • Alamo, Nicolle
  • Olhaberry, Marcia

Abstract

Migration to Chile has risen in recent years, especially from Venezuela, reflecting that country’s context of enduring socio-economic and political crisis. Within a larger research project about children who have been sexually abused and are undergoing psychotherapy in specialized public programs in Chile, this paper aims to explore the intersecting needs of families and the challenges faced by child services when families with insecure migration status access to support related to specialized interventions following sexual abuse. Through an individual case analysis, the paper illuminates why intervention needs to engage with the intersectional inequities experienced by families from migration backgrounds. The analysis focuses on a of a Venezuelan family (of black African origin) who have insecure migration status in Chile: a six-year-old girl (who was subjected to intra-familial sexual abuse) and her grandmother. Qualitative longitudinal interviews with the child (complemented by arts-based methods) and grandmother were conducted: (i) within 2–3 months of the beginning of therapy; (ii) about nine months later; (iii) within two weeks of the end of therapy; and (iv) approximately 4–5 months after therapy ended. The analysis of these eight interviews through this longitudinal and multi-perspective lens sheds light on the implications of the family’s insecure migration status for the child’s access to support, documenting corresponding complexities in the legal process, which pose barriers to establishing a stable formal custody agreement. In turn, these structural factors intersect with the child and grandmother’s needs and concerns, shaping possibilities for specialist psychotherapeutic intervention. As a whole, this exemplar case illuminates the social and relational vulnerabilities that may be generated for families from migration backgrounds in child welfare interventions, demonstrating the need for a different approach to tackle inequity in access to services and security in children’s lives.

Suggested Citation

  • Capella, Claudia & Boddy, Janet & Tornero, María de los Angeles & Velilla, Camila & Nuñez, Lucía & Alamo, Nicolle & Olhaberry, Marcia, 2025. "Accounting for inequities in accessing support following sexual abuse: a case analysis of a family with a migration background," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:179:y:2025:i:c:s019074092500489x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108606
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019074092500489X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108606?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. Barth & L. Bermetz & E. Heim & S. Trelle & T. Tonia, 2013. "The current prevalence of child sexual abuse worldwide: a systematic review and meta-analysis," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(3), pages 469-483, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard Dembo & Alexis Swezey & Rachel Herrera & Luz Melendez & Camille Geiger & Kerry Bittrich & Jennifer Wareham & James Schmeidler, 2025. "Trauma-Informed Understanding of Depression Among Justice-Involved Youth," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(9), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Maribel Vega-Arce & Gonzalo Salas & Gastón Núñez-Ulloa & Cristián Pinto-Cortez & Ivelisse Torres Fernandez & Yuh-Shan Ho, 2019. "Research performance and trends in child sexual abuse research: a Science Citation Index Expanded-based analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(3), pages 1505-1525, December.
    3. Andersson, Tommy & Pettersson, Rickard & Jacobsson, Maritha, 2020. "Women and men sexually violated by closely related perpetrators over a lifespan. Prevalence, revictimization, and association to adverse childhood conditions and experiences," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    4. Weber, Sabine & Landolt, Markus A. & Maier, Thomas & Mohler-Kuo, Meichun & Schnyder, Ulrich & Jud, Andreas, 2017. "Psychotherapeutic care for sexually-victimized children – Do service providers meet the need? Multilevel analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 165-172.
    5. Sim, Susan & Kambouridis, Helen, 2025. "Relationship of demographic variables with mental health conditions in a childhood sexual abuse sample in a Victorian sexual assault service," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    6. Tetti Solehati & Iqbal Pramukti & Cecep Eli Kosasih & Yanti Hermayanti & Henny Suzana Mediani, 2022. "Determinants of Sexual Abuse Prevention Knowledge among Children’s Schools in West Java Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-10, July.
    7. Shrabanti Maity & Pronobesh Ranjan Chakraborty, 2023. "Implications of the POCSO Act and determinants of child sexual abuse in India: insights at the state level," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Aznar-Blefari, Carlos & Benevides, Ana Rebeca Domingues & Rogenski, Raquel Heli & Pinto, Milena Maria & Priolo-Filho, Sidnei R. & Katz, Carmit & Goldfarb, Deborah, 2023. "Increasing access to justice for children: A brief report on the Brazilian Sign Language version of the NICHD protocol," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    9. Gewirtz-Meydan, Ateret, 2020. "The relationship between child sexual abuse, self-concept and psychopathology: The moderating role of social support and perceived parental quality," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    10. Izabela Zych & Inmaculada Marín‐López, 2024. "PROTOCOL: Risk and protective factors for child sexual abuse and interventions against child sexual abuse: An umbrella review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(4), December.
    11. Denise Alexander & Michael Rigby & Mika Gissler & Lennart Köhler & Morag MacKay, 2015. "The challenge of compiling data profiles to stimulate local preventive health action: a European case study from child safety," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(4), pages 449-456, May.
    12. Katz, Carmit & Tener, Dafna & Hindi, Inbal, 2021. "“We took turns”: How do child victims of intrafamilial child sexual abuse perceive and experience their siblings?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    13. Shen, Fei & Soloski, Kristy & Liu, Yanhong, 2021. "Adolescent parental attachment and intimate relationship in adulthood: An investigation of contextual factors and long-term outcomes of child sexual abuse," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    14. Achyut Raj Pandey & Tamanna Neupane & Binaya Chalise & Niraj Shrestha & Sabina Chaudhary & Raja Ram Dhungana & Bihungum Bista, 2021. "Factors associated with physical and sexual violence among school-going adolescents in Nepal: Findings from Global School-based Student Health Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-15, March.
    15. Estelle Bockers & Stefan Roepke & Lars Michael & Babette Renneberg & Christine Knaevelsrud, 2014. "Risk Recognition, Attachment Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, and State Dissociation Predict Revictimization," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(9), pages 1-9, September.
    16. Pilar Rueda & Marta Ferragut & M. Victoria Cerezo & Margarita Ortiz-Tallo, 2021. "Child Sexual Abuse in Mexican Women: Type of Experience, Age, Perpetrator, and Disclosure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-11, June.
    17. Zhu, Yuhong & Xiao, Chenyang & Zhu, Bin, 2023. "Gender differences in child sexual abuse in China: Do one-child status and repeated victimization matter?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    18. Sharma, Alankaar, 2022. "Men survivors’ perspectives on impact of child sexual abuse," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    19. Elsa Lucia Escalante-Barrios & Sergi Fàbregues & Julio Meneses & María del Mar García-Vita & Daladier Jabba & Carmen Ricardo-Barreto & Sandra Patricia Ferreira Pérez, 2020. "Male-On-Male Child and Adolescent Sexual Abuse in the Caribbean Region of Colombia: A Secondary Analysis of Medico-Legal Reports," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-19, November.
    20. Rule, Deirdre Margo, 2025. "Child sexual abuse reporting intentions of primary school teachers in South Africa: An application of the theory of planned behavior," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:179:y:2025:i:c:s019074092500489x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.