Overview

Secrets and Silencereveals that the enquiry that followed the Cleveland child abuse scandal of 1987 was a cover-up. When paediatricians in the English county of Cleveland identified evidence of rape in 121 children in 1987, they were discredited. Children were sent home and the public assured that there was no widespread problem of sexual abuse. Renowned journalist Beatrix Campbell shockingly reveals the government's deliberate cover- up of expert findings that most of the diagnoses were correct: ministers misled the public, doctors and social workers were denounced and the children were denied their own stories. The legacy of the Cleveland controversy lived on in child protection practice policing for 30 years. Some children were left unprotected, others died - until the government was finally forced to launch the current Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, whose outcome will determine whether the public can be certain that children will be protected in future. 'Beatrix Campbell is one of those rare writers in whom a passion for justice is matched to a brilliantly forensic intelligence. In this gripping illumination of the long shadow of the Cleveland child abuse case, she shows the disastrous consequences of a pernicious myth.' -Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times 'A shocking indictment of state neglect and complicity in child sexual abuse. Essential reading for anyone who cares about truth, accountability and justice.' -Harriet Wistrich, lawyer and director of the Centre for Womens Justice

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9781447341147

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Reviews

A significant milestone in national and global narratives on child sexual abuse ... offers much needed insight whilst the nation's Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse carries out its work.... a game changer Natasha Phillips, Researching Reform Will ignite new debates and change perspectives: it insists through presenting new evidence that we consider whether this was a deliberate `cover up' and whether the doctors were right in their diagnoses. Liz Kelly, London Metropolitan University

A significant milestone in national and global narratives on child sexual abuse ... offers much needed insight whilst the nation's Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse carries out its work.... a game changer Natasha Phillips, Researching Reform Will ignite new debates and change perspectives: it insists through presenting new evidence that we consider whether this was a deliberate 'cover up' and whether the doctors were right in their diagnoses. Liz Kelly, London Metropolitan University

"""A significant milestone in national and global narratives on child sexual abuse ... offers much needed insight whilst the nation's Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse carries out its work.... a game changer"" Natasha Phillips, Researching Reform ""Will ignite new debates and change perspectives: it insists through presenting new evidence that we consider whether this was a deliberate 'cover up' and whether the doctors were right in their diagnoses."" Liz Kelly, London Metropolitan University"

Author Information

Beatrix Campbell is an award-winning writer, broadcaster and political activist. Her book Wigan Pier Revisited one of Virago's bestsellers won the Cheltenham Literature Festival Prize. She writes about crime, community, Conservative women, child abuse, sexual politics and politics.

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