‘Urgent need for training to spot and act on sex abuse within families’

A seven-year-old girl spoke about killing herself, and another aged 11 gave birth after being sexually abused by a family member, a national child safeguarding review has found.

The report, commissioned by an independent panel which looks into serious child safeguarding cases, said children are “all too often ignored or disbelieved” and risks posed by adult family members “frequently overlooked, misunderstood or minimised”.

The experiences of 193 children in England, where reviews had been carried out amid concerns of what is known as intrafamilial child sexual abuse, were considered.

Of all the children, seven died by suicide and a further 14 talked about or attempted suicide.

“One of these children was aged seven when she talked about hanging herself,” the review said.

Ten children were known to have become pregnant through the abuse, with at least six going on to give birth.

The youngest of these was just 11 at the time her baby was born.

Other consequences for children included self-harm, eating disorders, diagnoses of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, substance or alcohol misuse and an impact on their education.

The panel said three quarters of the children in the reviews looked at were girls and 73% were white British.

Children younger than six years old accounted for 29% of the cases, 46% were children aged between six and 12, while 25% were children aged between 13 and 17.

The abusers were men in 98% of cases.

It said: “The risk of harm was known (and often over many years) but ignored, denied or deflected.

“Therefore, it is often not a matter of professionals not knowing about the risk of abuse, but rather of a system that simply does not see, notice and comprehend this type of risk.

“The review highlights too that shame, fear and concern about betraying their families means that children struggle to tell others what is happening.

“A profound change is overdue in how professionals, in their different roles, engage with and talk to children about abuse. This involves wholesale change in training, supervision and leadership.”

The panel called on the Government to develop a national action plan, including making sure criminal justice and safeguarding agencies work together to ensure “robust assessment and management” of people who pose a risk and who have contact with children.

It also urged a national pathway providing a “clear process to support practitioners from when concerns are first identified through to investigation, assessment and the provision of help”.

Panel chairwoman Annie Hudson called for a “more child-centred system”.

She said: “The voices and experiences of the 193 children at the heart of this report make very plain that too often we fail to identify and act to protect children from sexual abuse in their families.

“In recent years, very necessary attention has rightly been given to the sexual abuse of children in public institutions, by strangers on the internet and by ‘high profile’ individuals.

“This report seeks to shine a light on the many barriers to giving children the help and protection they need when they are abused within their families.”

Ian Dean, director of the centre which carried out the review, said: “Children need help to tell, and it’s vital that all professionals are given the knowledge and skills to notice when something is wrong, and the confidence to talk directly to children and families about concerns of sexual abuse.

“Despite a wealth of wider training, most practitioners working with children across social work, policing, education and health won’t even get a single day of training focused on child sexual abuse before qualifying.

“This review shows that this is clearly failing to properly equip the workforce to identify concerns and respond to protect children from sexual abuse.”

A Government spokesperson said the report “importantly highlights the weaknesses in the system that have shielded abusers and left children at risk of harm”.

They added: “As a child-centred government, keeping children safe could not be more important and we are already taking swift action to address these recommendations through our landmark reforms to children’s social care.

“We will require every council to implement a joined-up approach to child protection, strengthen safeguards for home education and improve information sharing, to prevent children falling through the cracks.”

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