Children & Young People at Increased Risk of CSA

Young people in these groups are not inherently vulnerable due to the following characteristics, but rather the vulnerability lies in how these characteristics are exploited by others and or as a result of the impact of societal views and discrimination (how sexual abuse is recognised, reported and responded to).

Some children and young people are more likely to experience CSA than the wider population, these include children with a disability, children who have been in care and children who have experienced neglect.
Sibling sexual abuse is just as likely as abuse by an adult family member and presents other considerations.
In these situations, the individual who has been harmed and the individual who has harmed are both children.

This brings added complexity and can lead to confused and confusing responses by professionals. Therefore, responding this form of abuse is reliant on understanding the nature and consequences of the abuse.

Sibling sexual abuse can be every bit as harmful as sexual abuse by a parent or family member, with both short and long-term effects on physical and mental health. Professionals should assess the risk rather than make assumptions to ensure this type of abuse is fully understood. Children who have sexually abused a child sibling may often have experienced abuse and trauma themselves and must be given appropriate support, alongside a robust assessment to understand if family disfunction has had an impact.

Professionals should also be mindful not to label children as perpetrators, instead they have or may have demonstrated harmful or sexually harmful behaviours that need to be fully understood.

All sexual behaviour displayed by children and young people falls on a continuum from developmentally typical and expected through to abuse and harmful. There are a number of tools that professionals can use to assist them to understand where the presenting behaviour may fall including Brooke and Hackett.

The NSPCC learning page is quite helpful in discussing this:

Understanding Sexualised Behaviour in Children | NSPCC Learning