**6. The legal system**

The adversarial way the legal system dealt with the cases tended to place the families and the authorities in an oppositional rather than a co-operative relationship. This contrasts with countries like France, where the legal system is founded on a more inquisitorial approach. This in turn influenced not only the media and public perceptions, but also the climate for change and the pattern of the services which developed.

The controversy that developed around the medical diagnosis was only one aspect of the difficulties faced in the courts. The investigative process and methods, particularly around efforts to try and facilitate the children to disclose any abuse, was all subject to intense critical attack on the grounds that the process itself was traumatising and damaging to the children. These opinions served to fuel the criticism directed at the interviews in Cleveland, and influenced subsequent recommendations that interviews with children where abuse was suspected should not be in any way directive.
