Child sexual abuse review: Listening to children and young people is crucial

The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA), set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris scandals, has published itsfinal report. Commissioned by then home secretary Theresa May in 2014, the inquiry has spent seven years examining how state and private institutions failed to protect the children in their care from sexual abuse.

The investigationsthat fed into thefinal reportspanned a wide range of organizations. These includedchildprotection services at local authority level, religious institutions, hostels and residential schools.

Among its 20recommendations, the report calls for the government to establish a child protection authority for England and Wales and a cabinet minister for children. It also highlights the need for specific support, compensation and redress, emphasizing that no statute of limitation be placed on people, who have experienced child sexualabuse, coming forward.

A salient contribution to these recommendations came from theTruth Projectaspect of the inquiry, which drew on the accounts of over 6,000 victims and survivors of sexual abuse. What comes across most urgently is the imperative that the voices of those that have been abused be heard.

Why reporting should be mandatory

Across the investigations it carried out, the inquiry found that children andyoung peoplewere not listened to. A key recommendation it makes is that reporting of child sexual abuse be made mandatory: that people in a position of power with children should have alegal obligationto report abuse if it has been disclosed or witnessed, or if indicators are present.

These are not new concepts. In 1997, theChildhood Matters inquiryintochild abuserecommended the creation of the role of minister of state with specific responsibility for children. It highlighted the need for improved regulation of staff who work with children. Crucially, it put great emphasis on the notion of children having rights and a voice.

A subsequentstudy of disclosures of childhood abusecarried out by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), in 2013, found that over 80% of the children who took part had tried to tell someone about the abuse they had experienced and that 90% of these children had had negative responses. Opportunities for intervention were missed, action was not taken, children were not believed and no support was given.

These findings predate the IICSA report by nearly a decade. Understanding why the problem has endured and why there is such systematic failure at so many complex levels is fundamental.

Professionals should be trained to hear what victims are saying

Disclosure is a complex issue.Research showsthat quite often childrendo not directly saywhat they have experienced. Professionals have to be trainedto understandthe nuances at play in what they do disclose.

Disbelieving children isnot a new phenomenon. Studieshavefrequentlydemonstratedthat this is a crucial flaw in child protection systems.

然而,即使披露了或当我t is evident that abuse is taking place, many professionals in positions of power regarding children are not aware of the reporting procedures in place. They don't know which mechanisms to use to report that information.

There is also a culture of silence around reporting, particularly when it involves effectivelywhistleblowingon colleagues. The inquiry's investigations found there had often been a reluctance to report abuse, because protecting the organization and individuals was seen as paramount. The report found that this was then coupled with organizational culture and how child sexual abuse can be normalized within this, which leads to any challenge to this being perceived as extreme.

Again this is not new information. It was highlighted by the NSPCCin a 1991 report进入机构虐待儿童。很明显,more needs to be done to support those who want to speak up in the form of education and protective mechanisms for reporting.

Why taboos need to be challenged

Shifting organizational culture is notoriously difficult. This is thefundamental problemthat underpins the issues of disclosure and subsequent reporting.

Coupled with these issues are those of how children are perceived withinsocietyand the power structures in which childhood is embedded. Children, while being seen as the innocent representations ofsociety, are also viewed as inferior. Adults are deemed to knowbest.

Yet listening to the child's voice is vitally important. The report duly recommends the government should commission regular programs to increase public awareness around child sexual abuse and ensure people know what to do if abuse is suspected.

The inquiry also advises that myths and stereotypes around child sexual abuse bechallenged. The lack of reporting and listening to children when it comes to sexual abuse is linked to the taboos that surround talking about this topic within wider society: the mutual exclusivity ofchildren and sex.

The United Nations convention on the rights of the child nonethelessdefinesa child as someone under the age of 18. This provides a clear legal framework within which to identify power structures and what constitutes abuse. The perception of what defines a child within wider society nonetheless remains complex, especially when considering adolescence. However, if we do not address these issues, childsexual abusewill persist, undetected and unreported.

This article is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.