COSA Casualties of Sexual Allegations Newsletter May 1994 Volume 1 No 1

Dear Friends,

I have been approached by a number of people who are interested in belonging to a New Zealand chapter of FMS and also a number of other people whose lives have been seriously affected by false allegations of sexual abuse and who wish to communicate with others in similar situations. I have decided to set up an organisation which can involve anyone concerned or harmed by this problem.

We have decided to call our organisation COSA (Casualties of Sexual Allegations). We will maintain regular communication with the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in the United States, and also the FACADE (False Accusations of Child Abuse Damage Everyone) group in Christchurch. In particular we are approaching people involved in the following sorts of cases:

  1. custody disputes
  2. children who undergo "disclosure interviews" where a concerned adult suspects abuse but the child has given no history of it
  3. child care workers
  4. adult children recovering memories of childhood abuse during therapy (the so-called false memory syndrome)
  5. community and cult cases.

I am currently researching these sorts of cases. Particularly valuable to me are any copies of transcripts of actual "victim" interviews, and also names etc of therapists who suggest possible sexual abuse to their clients. If you wish to share your story please contact me Tel 09 415 8095; Fax 09 415 8471. Confidentiality is assured.

Mrs Colleen Waugh has taken on the role of COSA secretary and treasurer. I hope to reduce my own involvement to offering advice and contributions to the newsletter, so any offer of assistance would be gratefully considered. If the response warrants it, a steering committee may need to be formed. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Colleen.

The basis of COSA is our newsletter. All contributions will be gratefully received (we may have to edit or not print everything because of space restrictions). Send us items such as your correspondence with various politicians, reviews and synopses of newspaper and magazine articles, research findings, court cases, details of local contact people and support groups, and suggestions regarding possible actions to bring these issues to public and official attention.

Please feel free to copy this newsletter and pass it on to interested people.

We will provide reference lists of articles and books on specific topics on request (for a small fee).

We are asking for an annual membership fee of $15 to cover stamps and stationery. This may not cover costs of copying and distributing surveys etc, so should you be able to make a donation as well, we would be very grateful.

I hope you will find COSA of value and service to you.

Kind regards, Felicity Goodyear-Smith

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