“By the time this photo was taken, I had been sexually abused by my uncle for five years”

Trigger warning: This story includes description of child sexual abuse. 

“This is me,” explains Matthew, pointing to a school photo of an eleven-year-old boy. “By the time this photo was taken, I had been sexually abused by my uncle for five years. The abuse continued for another three years,” says Matthew McVarish, co-founder of the Brave Movement, activist, and survivor of childhood sexual abuse. 

“If this boy was in your class, could you tell he was being constantly sexually abused?  If you look closely, you will see a small cut on my nose caused by me scratching. I never let that heal, an anxiety disorder and common trauma response. A clear a sign that something was wrong.”

Despite the devastating impact of violence on children, most child survivors of violence do not seek help, or receive help to recover. Ineffective or inadequate and fragmented services provided to children during legal proceedings often add to children’s suffering, forcing them to relive trauma over and over again. 

At 17-years-old Matthew left school and his home. He moved to another city in his home country Scotland and tried to start again, only for abuse to follow him. He soon began studying at college, and life seemed to be getting better. One morning, Matthew woke up on the floor in some man’s house. He discovered that he had been drugged and raped. Matthew managed to escape. On his way home, he collapsed. Confused and disorientated and police were called. After disclosing what he had experienced, two officers forced Matthew to relive every detail of his trauma all over again. They then drove him in a police van, like a criminal, to an austere and isolated department of a hospital, where two forensic doctors performed invasive medical examinations while two police officers stood in the room. 

“I didn’t feel believed,” recalls Matthew as he describes how the police officers suggested that he had unconsciously consented. 

Matthew received a message on his phone – an apology from the man who had raped him and what later would be evidence. Showing it to the police, Matthew asked them when they will arrest him. The response ‘It’s not exactly urgent.’ Matthew went back to the police station every day for two weeks until they finally took action. They brought the perpetrator in for questioning. Before anything further could be done, the man left the country. “That was the end of my justice,” says Matthew.

The practice of forcing children through fragmented and siloed systems that are not designed to support young child or teen survivors of abuse, exploitation and violence, including sexual violence cannot continue. 

“Court rooms are for lawyers. Police stations are for criminals. And hospitals are for the sick,” says Matthew. “They are not places for children who have been sexually traumatised.”

More than two decades ago, the international community recognised this, leading to the creation of the Barnahus model. Translated as ‘children’s house’, Barnahus is a child-centred response to child survivors of violence, including child witnesses of violence. It brings together four pillars of support: criminal justice, child protective services, physical wellbeing and mental wellbeing. The four pillars work together to assess a child’s individual situation, to support their recovery, and to ensure access to justice in a child-friendly and safe environment. Children receive support in a child-friendly environment through one specially trained social worker who is the sounding board between a child and the police, lawyers, doctors and other professionals involved in legal proceedings. 

First implemented in 1998 in Iceland, the Barnahus models and others like it are now available in countries across Europe and Central Asia. At a regional conference organised in Podgorica, Montenegro this week, the Government of Montenegro announced the introduction of the Barnahus model for children in the country. In doing so Montenegro commits to upholding international child rights standards including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Lanzarote Convention, and the Council of Europe and UNICEF strategies and soft-law instruments for protecting children.

“Uniting all relevant services under one roof provides a coordinated, effective, and compassionate response when children have experienced or witnessed violence, abuse or exploitation,” says Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, speaking at the Elevating Excellence: Uniting for Effective Child Protection with the Barnahus Model – organized in Podgorica by the Government of Montenegro, UNICEF and Council of Europe, with the support of the EU.

“When implemented well, it gives hope to child survivors and witnesses of violence and aligns with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the best interests of children, the right of the child to be heard in judicial and other proceedings that affect them, the right to life, survival and development and the right to protection from all forms of violence,” explains Regina.

When Matthew was 25 years old, he took his uncle to court. His uncle was prosecuted and sentenced, and finally removed from contact with other children. Matthew sought therapy, funded by himself, which he has continued for decades. The therapy, and his friendly Staffie dog, provide the safe spaces he needs to heal and recover. An advocate for The Barnahus model, Matthew describes the model as “the closest thing humanity has developed to deliver what child victims truly need. It helps them feel believed, which is the most essential kindness we can extend to any child who has been sexually assaulted.” Also speaking at the regional conference, Matthew explains “And if you’re nation is still dragging children who have been raped into court rooms and interrogating them, then your nation is consciously and willfully failing to uphold their commitments made in the CRC.”