Our default picture of child abuse enquiries tends to start with a child telling us they have been harmed: a child tells a trusted adult about the abuse, and that adult informs the safeguarding authority.  However, as the figures quoted in the second chapter, on understanding the scale and nature of CSA make clear, sexual abuse is overwhelmingly not reported by those who have experienced it.  Intra-familial child sexual abuse often involves a high level of betrayal, stigma, secrecy, and manipulation. This, in itself, creates many barriers to a child telling us they have been harmed: feelings of shame, embarrassment, fear of not being believed and fear of humiliation. If children do talk about the abuse they have experienced, they are more likely to do so to a friend or a family member, rather than a professional.

Moreover, when a child or young person is sexually abused, they are forced or tricked into sexual activities. They might not understand that what is happening is abuse or that it is wrong, and so will not consider it something to be reported. We must therefore shift our focus from expecting a child to tell a trusted adult about the abuse they are experiencing, to being able to identify the signs and indicators of abuse and building relationships of trust and confidence with children so that they gain the confidence to share information. We should constantly develop our understanding of their circumstances through curiosity and analysis.

‘The current statutory child protection approach to responding to concerns that a child is being sexually abused puts too much responsibility on children and young people to recognise the abuse they are experiencing and then to seek a trusted adult to talk about what is happening to them. This is a heavy, and frankly unrealistic responsibility.’ (Centre for Expertise in Child Sexual Abuse; Practice Improvement blog, 2019)

Where a child does report that they have experienced sexual abuse, they will, in the majority of the time, tell an adult they trust. This can often be a teacher or an education member of staff. The LCSPR thematic summary of intra-familial child sexual abuse (2022) completed in Dorset highlighted the consistent good practice that education staff had demonstrated in working alongside the child and their family.

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