Abuse Linked to Spiritual or Religious Beliefs

This page provides advice to practitioners and managers to help them identify and deal with abuse that may be linked to a belief in spirit possession.


1. Abuse Linked to Spiritual or Religious Beliefs

1.1 Child abuse is never acceptable in any community, in any culture, in any religion under any circumstances. This includes abuse that might arise through a belief in spirit possession or other spiritual or religious beliefs.

1.2 Standard child safeguarding procedures apply and must always be followed in all cases where abuse or neglect is suspected including those that may be related to a belief in spirit possession.

1.3 The beliefs which are the focus of this practice guidance are not confined to one faith, nationality or ethnic community. Examples have been recorded worldwide among Europeans, Africans, Asians and elsewhere as well as in Christian, Muslim, Hindu and pagan faiths among others. Not all those who believe in witchcraft or spirit possession harm children.

1.4 There are some common features where faith or belief is a factor in abuse. Firstly, there is sometimes a wider social or community consensus that witchcraft, for example, actually exists. Sometimes a faith leader or other influential figure is at the centre, promoting the belief and methods of resolving the supposed problem by harming children. Parents or carers have also been key perpetrators in many of the known cases. This can make the abuse harder to find out about, harder to get evidence to prosecute and harder to prevent in future.

1.5 There is also the internal logic of the belief, which in the case of spirit possession, for example, is that the child is the victim of a supernatural force and the abuse is therefore understood by perpetrators as a means of saving the child – driving out the devil – in other words perpetrators may perversely believe that they are doing the right thing. Even where there is no intention to save the child, the belief that the child can harm others can generate a real fear in those who would normally be expected to protect the child, including parents or close family. This fear that a child may cause harm to, or kill, siblings, parents and other family or friends can be a critical factor in the abuse.

1.6 In some cases there are also real-world factors underlying the abuse. This is sometimes described as the scapegoating of children to reconcile misfortune that has occurred to the family or community, such as an adult family member becoming unemployed or being in poverty. In these situations, those who are different because they have some special traits (such as being particularly bright, having difficult behaviour, having a disability or children living away from their parents) are the target of scapegoating, being accused of having caused the misfortune by supernatural means. The most vulnerable people within a group offer the least ability to resist being scapegoated, and children are a group who are inherently vulnerable, needing protection from adults around them.

1.7 The number of identified cases of such abuse is small but where it occurs the impact on the child is great, causing much distress and the child will be suffering harm. It is possible that a significantly larger number of cases remain undetected.

 

 

2. Forms of Abuse

2.1 The abuse usually occurs in the household where the child lives. It may also occur in a place of worship where alleged ‘diagnosis’ and ‘exorcism’ may take place. The most common forms of abuse include:

  • physical abuse: in the form of beating, shaking, burning, cutting, stabbing, semi-strangulating, tying up the child, or rubbing chilli peppers or other substances on the child’s genitals or eyes, or placing chilli peppers or other substances in the child’s mouth;
  • emotional/psychological abuse: in the form of isolation, for example, not allowing a child to eat or share a room with family members or threatening to abandon them, or telling a child they are evil or possessed. The child may also accept the abuse if they are coerced into believing they are possessed;
  • neglect: in the form of failure to ensure appropriate medical care, supervision, regular school attendance, good hygiene, nourishment, clothing or keep the child warm;
  • sexual abuse: children abused in this way may be particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation, perhaps because they feel powerless and worthless and feel they will not be believed if they tell someone about the abuse.

2.2 As in many child abuse cases, abuse linked to a belief in spirit possession generally occurs when problems within a family or in their broader circumstances exist. In these particular cases a spiritual explanation is sought in order to rationalise misfortune. Child abuse can occur when rationalisation takes the form of believing oneself to be cursed and that a child is the source of the problem because they have become possessed by evil spirits.

2.3 The reason why a particular child is singled out and accused of being possessed is complex. It often results from a combination of a weak bond of affection between a child and parent or carer, a belief that the child is violating family norms and above all a perception that the child is ‘different ’.

2.4 It may be that the child is being looked after by adults who are not the parents, and who do not have the same affection for the child as their own children. A child can also be viewed as being different for disobedience, rebelliousness, over independence, bedwetting, nightmares, illness, perceived or physical abnormality or a disability. Disabilities involved in documented cases included learning disabilities, mental health, epilepsy, autism, a stammer and deafness. Many of the children were also described by their families or carers as being naughty. In other cases there were no obvious reasons, but a perceived issue.

2.5 In most identified cases of abuse linked to a belief in evil spirits, the child had an accusation of ‘evil’ made against them. This was commonly accompanied by a belief that they could ‘infect’ others with such ‘evil’. The explanation for how a child becomes possessed varies widely but includes through food that they have been given or through spirits that have been in contact with them.

2.6 Where abuse linked to spiritual or religious beliefs is suspected, it needs the same robust response as any other suspicion of abuse. If the child is not already known to Children’s Social Care, a referral should be made and if the child is already allocated a social worker, then usual safeguarding procedures apply.

 

3. Further Information