Why must the child be found to be unavailable in abuse cases for their statements to be considered?

In abuse cases involving a child's statements, the requirement for the child to be found unavailable serves to enhance the reliability of those statements. When a child is considered unavailable, it is usually due to factors such as fear, trauma, or other vulnerabilities that prevent them from testifying in court. This unavailability highlights the child's previous statements as a critical account of their experiences, and courts generally recognize that these statements can carry significant evidentiary weight under certain circumstances.

The principle behind allowing statements from an unavailable witness revolves around the idea that their prior testimony is made under conditions that ensured some level of reliability, such as being reported to a trusted adult or law enforcement soon after the abuse occurred. These statements may include spontaneous disclosures or those made in therapeutic settings, which courts often view as less likely to be fabricated or influenced by external pressures, thus lending them greater credibility.

For a child's statements to be admitted as evidence when they cannot participate in a trial, demonstrating their earlier unavailability helps ensure the system respects both the trauma the child may have faced and the integrity of the judicial process by relying on corroborative measures that support the statements made.