Believe the Children
Encyclopedia
Believe the Children was an advocacy organization formed by the parents involved in the McMartin preschool trial
to promote the idea that allegations of satanic ritual abuse
were factual and not a moral panic
as is believed by most scholars. The organization's name was based on the slogan that the children, who were the primary sources of information about the alleged abuse (no physical evidence or corroboration was found for the allegations), should be believed without question. The organization became a clearinghouse for information about ritual abuse from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s.
McMartin preschool trial
The McMartin preschool trial was a day care sexual abuse case of the 1980s. Members of the McMartin family, who operated a preschool in California, were charged with numerous acts of sexual abuse of children in their care. Accusations were made in 1983. Arrests and the pretrial investigation ran...
to promote the idea that allegations of satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse refers to the abuse of a person or animal in a ritual setting or manner...
were factual and not a moral panic
Moral panic
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...
as is believed by most scholars. The organization's name was based on the slogan that the children, who were the primary sources of information about the alleged abuse (no physical evidence or corroboration was found for the allegations), should be believed without question. The organization became a clearinghouse for information about ritual abuse from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s.