Teaching children about self-protection from sexual abuse: could it be a cause for source monitoring errors and fantasy? (Two case reports)

Background: Child sexual abuse, being most of the time a hidden crime that is kept lifelong undisclosed, was found to have strong influence on the victim. Unless a hard evidence (physical evidence, eyewitness, perpetrator confession) was present, decision on the case will depend solely on the child’s account. In spite of efforts to get accurate information, children tend to mix events they have experienced with those seen on TV, heard in a story or even introduced by others while questioning about the event. Source monitoring error is the error in tagging information to its source and is a problem faced when interviewing very young children and when repeatedly rehearsing a false event. In Saudi Arabia, awareness programs were initiated and were distributed widely to educate families about consequences of abuse and the available facilities to seek if needed. These programs took part in social campaigns at malls, schools and media. Parents became more aware of the problem and concerned parents even took part in educating their children about self protection. Knowing that formal sexual health education is deficient in Saudi Arabia and in other Arab countries can put such programs in challenge. Case presentation: In this paper, two cases are presented of child sexual abuse allegations that raised the issue of source monitoring errors in children with over concerned mothers. The mothers admitted the fact that they are giving extensive detailed teaching to their girls about the sexual abuse. The possibilities of having source monitoring errors are discussed while highlighting the protocols of forensic interview and methods to minimize source monitoring errors. Conclusion: Teaching self protection against sexual abuse could be the first introduction of sexual issues to children and hence could lead to source monitoring errors and false allegation of child sexual assault.