Harmful behaviour between children in schools

We are hearing all the time in the media through the #metoo movement about adults who misuse their seniority/position to sexually offend against staff who feel they have little choice and seldom report the offences.

There is increasing research to show this is not simply an adult to adult problem. Firmin et al (2018) found that sexually harmful behaviour between children in school was being normalised by young people. The young people felt it wasn't too serious and didn't want to risk losing friendships. The victims also were afraid of being blamed themselves for such events. There is a continuum of sexual behaviour both on and off line  and many behaviours are now tolerated at  lower levels.  

Certain children are more vulnerable to sexual violence including  special education needs and  LGBT children. it is vital that young people take seriously the safety and consent of others if we are to change the culture and protect everyone from unwanted sexual contact.  The research shows that children will only tell adults if they think it will be taken seriously including lower level sexual banter. Adults need to demonstrate their trustworthiness and act on all sexual activity which is unwanted. Schools also need to give very clear messages about consent and respect.

Hidden abuse - Californian abuse victims

The news today of the Californian family who hid their 13 children in their home, imprisoned and abused, has triggered the normal reactions. How could this happen in an affluent road? How did no one know it was happening? Despite the monstrous appearance of both parents, the neighbours remained unaware. One of the factors was clearly that it wasn’t a poor area and people didn’t expect abuse and neglect.

The other factor was the children were home educated. In the US one can set up as a private school and evade monitoring. This wouldn’t be an option here in the UK but any parent can pull their child out of school and say they are home schooling. They are offered a link and visit from the local authority but if they decline this, there is no obligation for them to demonstrate the quality of education. Some conscientious families home school but many opt for this as a way to avoid monitoring of their children’s welfare.

Kyra Ishaq in Birmingham was such a child who died of starvation with no monitoring. The Californian children could have had the same experience here in the UK and if they were home schooled could have been unmonitored. Thinking that caring neighbours will always observe and ring social care is an unreliable assumption here in the UK too. 

Safety online for children

There have been a number of recent reminders about the need for careful supervision of children's online behaviour. It seems timely to think about it with lots of children probably getting iPads and smart phones for Christmas.

Shocking images and videos have been found on YouTube videos designed for children. These include disturbing, violent or sexual contents that pop in when children search for suitable material - for example, Peppa Pig dentist producing images of Peppa Pig being tortured. Content on kids' YouTube is not curated or pre-screened by humans. We have also recently heard again about paedophiles using live streaming to access children and tricking them into sexual acts or exposure over the internet. There are particular risks to children and young people live streaming and making themselves vulnerable to whoever may access them in this way. 

This reminds us that the responsibility for safety on line of children remains with the parents or carers and nothing can be assumed to be safe. We also need to be alert to these risks in delivering safeguarding training to staff working with children

The Victoria Climbié Enquiry

Today's Radio 4 programme The Reunion focussed on the Victoria Climbie Enquiry. It was good to be reminded 17 years later of the harrowing story of this child's 10 months in London that led to her death. As Lord Laming said, "there were failures at every level of every organisation".  Most of the discussion on the programme was thoughtful and helpful. However, as usual the discussion focused towards the end on making sure this doesn't happen again and there was passing reference to Peter Connolly. The Panel were asked if social work is better now at protecting children. There was a naive optimism in the Panel. Laming talked about meeting some inspirational social workers.

Although I agree on that point, the day after local government elections and heading towards a likely Tory victory in June, it is clear that many of the aspects that allowed agencies to fail Victoria are worse than ever. Social workers are amazing but are working under immense pressure with decreasing resources. Schools are left with monitoring families who 17 years ago would have been allocated to social workers. Bureaucracy and form filling takes even more social work time. With more rounds of local government cuts ahead, addressing child protection effectively will take more than inspirational social workers.

Football sex abuse allegations

Why is everyone so surprised about the football sexual abuse scandal? We know how paedophiles work and they will always be where children are.  The combination of much sought opportunity for the child and the power of the coach are an obvious opportunity for paedophiles.

We have seen the same process in churches and celebrities. Other sports will follow on. The important issue is we don't lose sight of the fact that although sexual abuse is terrible, half the children on a child protection plan are there for neglect. Neglect doesn't make good headlines but causes long lasting damage too.