Child Sexual Abuse Within the Family

We do not know for certain how much child sexual abuse happens, but studies suggest that one in ten children (15% of girls and 5% of boys) experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 16. Abuse in the family environment accounts for almost half of all child sexual abuse offences reported to the police in England and Wales. In the 2019 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), around a quarter to a third of child sexual abuse survivors – and around a third to a half of those whose abuse had involved penetration or rape – said a family member had been involved in their abuse.

Most people who sexually abuse children, including in the family environment, are male, although abuse by females does occur. Among respondents to the 2019 CSEW who said they had been sexually abused before the age of 16, 5% specified that they had been sexually abused by their fathers, 6% by their stepfathers, 1% by their mothers and 0.3% by their stepmothers; 22% said other family members (gender unspecified) had sexually abused them. Another UK study found that around a quarter of cases of child sexual abuse in the family environment involved abuse by someone under the age of 18.

Existing research indicates that, compared to extra-familial abuse, child sexual abuse in the family generally starts at a younger age; involves more serious and frequent offending over a longer period; and almost always occurs in the context of more complex relationships involving emotional and practical dependency as well as power and control.

Child sexual abuse occurs in families across all ethnicities, but victims and survivors from minority ethnic communities often face additional barriers to telling anyone about it and receiving appropriate support. High levels of secrecy, shame and stigma within some communities, combined with cultural assumptions by professionals, can increase barriers to reporting and prevent effective child protection. Children from minority ethnic backgrounds are under-represented in all agency data, meaning their experiences of child sexual abuse – including intra-familial abuse – are missed even more frequently by official agencies than those of White children.

Disabled children are at higher risk of sexual abuse than non-disabled children. They are often more dependent on their caregivers, may experience more barriers to communication and may be less likely to be perceived as potential victims of intra-familial abuse; these factors, combined with a lack of specialised knowledge among professionals, can lead to low levels of disclosure and inadequate responses.

Although most research relates to sexual abuse by individual family members, families can also be involved in the organised abuse of children by multiple abusers, in child sexual exploitation, or in the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material such as images and videos. Some surveys of adult survivors have found that around half of individuals involved in producing such material were family members, with biological/adoptive parents or step-parents often being the primary producers. Content analysis of images and videos suggests that most have been manufactured in a home setting, and the most highly traded images online involve the abuse of prepubescent girls by their fathers.

It is therefore welcome that this month (September) a number of agencies namely Ofsted; the Care Quality Commission (CQC); HM Inspectorate of Constabulary;  Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), have published guidance for the second round of thematic inspections focusing on child sexual abuse in the family environment, as part of their programme of joint targeted area inspections (JTAIs).

Inspectors will look at how the police, children’s social care, probation services and relevant health services in a local area work together to:

• Respond to children at risk of, or who are victims of, child sexual abuse in the family environment, at the point of identification  

• Assess, plan and make decisions in response to notifications and referrals of children at risk of, or who are victims of, child sexual abuse in the family environment

• Protect, support, and care for children at risk of, or who are victims of, child sexual abuse in the family environment

• Prevent children from becoming victims of child sexual abuse in the family environment

• Inspectors will also evaluate how local agencies work with education and early years providers and the voluntary and community sector, to identify and respond to children who are victims of this kind of abuse.

Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s National Director for Social Care, said: “In 2020, we published a report calling on policy makers and local partners to give greater attention to child sexual abuse in the family environment; so that its prevalence could be better understood, victims could be protected, and offenders brought to justice.

Since the publication of our previous report, data is showing a decline in the prevalence of children on child protection plans for child sexual abuse and the absence of justice for victims remains a concern. Considering this, and given growing concerns around child-on-child and online child sexual abuse, it is the right time to revisit this issue in our upcoming JTAI”.

Forbes Comment:

There can be no greater breach of trust than for a child to be abused by a family member who should rather be providing loving protection. Any response which aims to reduce the incidence of such heinous abuse is to be welcomed and this joint agency approach can hopefully result in the professionals involved intervening to make a real difference.