I have personal experience with something very similar. My daughter was 7, my ex husbands brother was 14. We didn't find out until she was 10. At any rate, we were told by professionals that helped us when she was giving her testimony, etc that children before puberty age do not know how to lie about sexual abuse. There will be people at the tail end of this who do not believe his story. They will think he is making it up or too young to really know what happened. These people are wrong. A child doesnt know how to make up those things. They lack the experience or the understanding to do so.

You obviously believe your son and this is going to be invaluable in helping him go through all of the things that are about to happen when you go to authorities over this. In our case, her closest grandmother (my ex husbands mother) refused to believe that she was telling the truth and this was the most harmful thing out of everything that happened to her. I had told her that there would be people that didn't believe her but that her dad and I did, no matter what. Please make sure to tell your son this. Tell him that no matter who doesn't believe him, his parents do and that you'll always have his back. It could really help ground him if he feels remorse for coming forward (which is something we had to deal with).

I'm very sorry this happened to you and your son. As someone who's gone through it, I can only say that down the road things calm down. Things settle. Justice is not always served, but if you step forward you've atleast made a record for the future. Your son can go on to be a healthy and happy person. Abuse doesn't ruin every kid. Mine is thriving, but we made sure to face each challenge head on and give everything its due attention without making small things too big and big things too small. It's a tricky path, but you can do it.

Good luck to you and your son.