Poisoning children: A reflection on the social constraints of children’s agency and narratives of sexual abuse

Abstract

Drawing inspiration from a story of abuses, involving 16 children in 1997–1998, this article deals with the social constraints on children’s participation in institutional interactions, in particular for what concerns their accounts of abuse. The article explores the problem of the truthfulness of children’s accounts through the lenses of an approach combining a theory of narratives, the concept of children’s agency and the analysis of interactions. It analyses the institutional context in which the children’s narratives were constructed and validated, drawing some conclusions about the ways in which institutions may deal with children’s agency.