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	Child victims of suspected sex abuse still cannot access timely specialist forensic medical examinations, except in small pockets around the country &mdash; and at times, cannot get examinations at all, a leading specialist has warned.</p>
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	Four years after a HSE-commissioned report urged that concerns must be &ldquo;addressed urgently&rdquo;, services remain limited for under 14-year-olds presenting following suspected sexual abuse, said Dr Joanne Nelson, clinical director of the Galway Child and Adolescent Sexual Assault Treatment Service (CASATS).</p>
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	&ldquo;Paediatric forensic medical services in Ireland are seldom available outside of working hours even though all available research shows that DNA evidence in pre-pubertal children is very rarely found more than three days after a sexual assault,&rdquo; Dr Nelson said.</p>
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	The specialist added that despite &ldquo;great promises&rdquo; that services throughout Ireland would be rolled out for under 14-year-olds, nothing has changed.</p>
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	Dr Nelson said her team in Galway &mdash; the CASATS was set up in 2011 to offer a 24-hour service to children in West and Mid West Ireland &mdash; has been called to examine children out of hours from Kildare, Westmeath, Louth, Ofally, Cavan and other areas far remote.</p>
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	Dr Nelson said young people present seeking forensic medical services, but often, no one will examine them in their own area because of a lack of appropriate facilities or expertise.</p>
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	&ldquo;An emergency department is not private, forensically clean or suitable to support victims of child sexual abuse. Outside Galway there is usually no dedicated forensic examiner on call.</p>
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	&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll phone around, looking for a suitably trained and available examiner. They might get lucky. If not, a child may wait hours or days for forensic examination in their own locality. Some eventually come to Galway.</p>
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	&ldquo;Is it fair or safe to ask children and families to travel long distances, when often deeply emotionally traumatised? The absence of a co-ordinated National Service is sorely felt,&rdquo; Dr Nelson added.</p>
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	In Dublin, St Clare&rsquo;s and St Louise&rsquo;s units in the children&rsquo;s hospitals provide services for child victims of sexual abuse but do not routinely provide forensic medical examination services.</p>
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	Dr Nelson said this is &ldquo;puzzling&rdquo; given the risk of sexually transmitted infection in such children.</p>
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	A spokesperson for the hospitals said the HSE and the seven Hospital Groups are working with TUSLA to develop a national model for the delivery of sexual assault services across the region.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/lack-of-services-for-child-abuse-victims-370038.html">http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/lack-of-services-for-child-abuse-victims-370038.html</a></p>
