Fake abduction reports need balanced response: expert
Last Updated: Friday, November 6, 2009 | 9:05 AM ET
CBC News
Quebec child experts say if authorities want to deter young people from making up stories about kidnapping attempts, they have to understand why teenagers are compelled to embellish such incidents.
Earlier this week two West Island youth — a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old — told police about a man driving a red minivan who they say tried to grab them in broad daylight.
The reports set off alarm bells for police and local school authorities, who issued warnings to parents and the community about a potential predator.
As it turned out, the youth "misinterpreted" the incidents, said Montreal police Cmdr. Peter Lambrinakos.
"Following all the meetings that we did with the plaintiffs, with the parents, with witnesses and different investigation techniques that we use, we were able to conclude that the allegations of the attempted kidnappings are not founded, and they did not happen," he told CBC News.
Experts don't agree on what form of punishment should be meted out to young people who make up tales of attempted abduction, but it's key to understand what might cause a child to seek that kind of attention.
"While there may be certain consequences on the behavioural level, in terms of the school and the family, I think what's extremely important to do, is not to treat the measles with makeup," said Dr. Abe Worenklein, a family mediator and clinical psychologist in Montreal.
"You basically have to get to the bottom [of the story]. Because if all that we do with kids like that is to punish them, if there are certain issues they have to deal with, and we don't deal with them, we're going to have other problems that will show up in other ways," said Worenklein, who teaches at Dawson College and lectures at Concordia University.
"It reminds me of the farmer who didn't have time to build a fence because he was chasing the cows," Worenklein said in a telephone interview Friday. There may be family issues to consider, such as "whether or not the parents are giving enough attention" to children.
It's a delicate balance for parents, teachers and police, who may want to teach children a lesson without discouraging them from reporting real incidents involving actual danger, said Marcus Tabachnik, chair of the Lester B. Pearson School Board.
"The goal here is that students understand that school is a safe place, they have to be able to come in and talk to adults and that we can take them seriously," he said on Friday.
"You can't become cynical. You have to take students seriously. Students generally do not lie about these kinds of things."
The consequences for youth should reinforce the gravity of the situation in a useful way, Worenklein said.
"There needs to be a consequence, but I prefer always to have a consequence that is a constructive one. Asking a youth to do research on risk-taking, and writing an essay on the potential consequences, and the number of man-power hours that have been lost as a result" is one way to make such an incident a teachable moment, he said.
Consequences stick more if they are reinforced through a tedious experience, Worenklein added. "It's not going to be something they enjoy doing, and it [should] take up their time away from their social recreational pursuits."
