27 July 2007
Not seen and not heard Q&A
Emilie Goodall, co-author of Not seen and not heard, answers some topical questions on child abuse and how charities are tackling it.
What do you mean by child abuse?
Child abuse is commonly defined as emotional, physical, sexual abuse and neglect. Abuse occurs on a continuum, so there are grey areas as to what constitutes abuse that differ from person to person, and culture to culture.
When estimating how many children are affected each year, we took prevalence data from the NSPCC’s 2000 study, which showed that:
- 6% of children were emotionally abused, meaning they experienced at least four out of seven things like humiliation or degradation, antipathy, terrorising and proxy attacks (ie, killing a pet).
- 7% were physically abused, meaning violent actions by parents or carers either causing injuries or continuing over many years, causing marks, pain or soreness lasting until the next day.
- 6% experienced neglect, like an absence of physical care, such as frequently going hungry or not being taken to the doctor when ill.
- 11% were subject to non-consensual sexual contact or sexual contact when under the age of 12 with someone five or more years older.
It is impossible to use these numbers to work out the total number of children that were abused. However, we know from these figures that at an absolute minimum 11% of children are abused — this corresponds to 80,000 children being abused each year. The real figure is likely to be much higher.
NPC’s report about child abuse, Not seen and not heard, covers areas that tend to get overlooked but that we believe are forms of abuse. These include:
- children who are sexually exploited (of which there are at least 3,000 each year);
- children who run away (100,000 children do so overnight each year) and face abuse on the streets; and
- children who are bullied.
Surely there are no simple solutions to an enormous problem like child abuse?
It is true that child abuse is an enormous, complex problem. But we found in our research lots of simple, effective solutions, particularly around prevention.
For example, charities like Eighteen and Under use games and discussions to tell children about abuse, which helps them to report it. There is good evidence that this approach is working and helping to keep children safe, as well as giving them the help they need to tell someone about abuse.
Other preventative solutions include the work of the Wave Trust, which for the past ten years has been researching the causes of violence. Wave argues that fostering empathy between parents and children in the early years (before the age of three) can make a big difference to a child’s propensity to violence in later life. It is calling for pilots of proven international projects to be run in the UK to test whether this can prevent abuse — one has already started.
The solution is in fact simple — to support the work of charities like Eighteen and Under and Wave Trust.
Isn’t the best solution to lock up all abusers?
Most sexual abusers are not known to the authorities. There are also huge numbers of potential abusers. Two statistics illustrate this:
- We estimate that there is only one conviction for every 80 cases of child sexual abuse.
- On any given day in 2006, there were at least 35,000 attempts to access child abuse images online.
Instead of focusing only on offenders we know, we need to support work to identify abusers and potential abusers, to try to avoid them abusing. The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity we recommend, is at the forefront of this work. It runs a helpline and gives face-to-face counselling to people who are worried either about themselves or others. This helps to treat and monitor potential abusers so they avoid harming children.
Why shouldn’t the names of abusers be made public (ie, if Sarah’s law existed)?
The evidence from the US, where something like Sarah’s law already exists, is that it drives offenders underground and that this actually makes it easier — not harder — for someone to reoffend. Also, only 3% of sexual offenders in the UK would fall under this law — so we are fooling ourselves if we think that we can solve the problem by introducing a Sarah’s law in this country. The government came to the same conclusion in its recent Child Sexual Offenders Review.
I was struck by a comment from a policeman on the subject of Sarah’s law. He said he believes that once their names were revealed, abusers would be targeted and attacked and they’d respond by moving or disappearing. ‘That would be the worst thing; at least if we know where these people are and they trust us enough to talk to us, we have a chance of stopping them reoffending.’
Why help abusers? Isn’t that rewarding the very people who should be punished?
There is evidence that a significant proportion of abusers, whether potential or actual, are motivated to stop their thoughts and feelings. These are people who actively seek help, but are unlikely to get any until after they have committed an offence.
Arnold, for example, was referred to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! helpline by his doctor. A gardener by profession, this 32 year old was concerned about his attraction to the young girls he saw sunbathing in the gardens where he worked. After approaching both police and probation services, they told him they could do nothing as he had not committed any offence. When he called the helpline, Arnold was given advice on managing his own behaviour and got the contact details of two counsellors in his area who had specific expertise and were able to provide practical techniques for managing his thoughts. In this way, Stop It Now! is preventing people like Arnold from becoming abusers, and avoiding the misery that is created if abuse does happen.
Although this may not be a palatable option for all donors, working with potential abusers is a vital part of trying to stop abuse. We do not know how many individuals pose a threat to children. We do know however that the Stop It Now! helpline takes 70 new callers each month from people concerned about their own thoughts or behaviour; those concerned about the behaviour of friends or family; and finally, parents or carers concerned about the welfare of a child.
Isn’t it up to government to stop abuse? What more should it be doing?
Government has the key responsibility for protecting children, spending at least £1.8bn each year to safeguard children. While its Every Child Matters reform agenda is delivering change, we believe that problems persist. For example, we estimate that the child protection system deals with only one third to two thirds of the 80,000+ children who are seriously abused each year. In addition, we believe that a shift from reactive to preventative approaches is needed — we found little direct preventative work with children or potential abusers; too little therapeutic treatment for abused children or known abusers; and a broad neglect of the needs of adult survivors of childhood abuse.
Charities can often help government to find ways to improve services, finding and closing gaps. They often campaign where change is needed. For example, the Children’s Rights Alliance for England acts as a watchdog on children’s rights, coordinating its 380-plus members to maximise its impact.
Read NPC's report Not see and not heard.
See NPC's charity recommendations for organisations tackling child abuse.
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