What you need to know in 60 seconds
This Safeguarding Insight is drawn from a publication by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse. Alongside child-on-child or peer sexual abuse, sibling sexual abuse is likely to be the most common form of sexual abuse of children, perhaps three times more likely than parental abuse, yet receives little attention. We tend to see safety in sibling relationships, an aspect of professional dangerousness that reduces our ability to identify risk and can inhibit young people coming forward to let us know about their experiences. However, if we put aside our prejudices about these relationships and look at this from a purely risk assessed model there are a number of factors that in any other situation would raise concern:
- Children at different ages and stages of sexual development with strong power differentials
- Some young people at an age where they are experimenting with relationships and their bodies
- Parental figures not perceiving any risk and at times delegate care giving roles and significant authority to older children for the younger children with at times limited oversight
- Lots of opportunity in spending intensive time together which increases at times of family difficulty (such as during a pandemic, or where there is preoccupation with adult needs around income, work, relationships, mental health, substance misuse and so on)
- A relationship commonly featuring younger child idolising older children, perhaps being willing to do anything to gain their attention
A more analytic viewpoint highlights the potential for risk and the importance of raising awareness across families and young people to reduce the potential for children to be put into these risky situations without adult care and oversight. Families should work towards providing a safe framework for the development of potentially the longest lasting relationships we will ever experience.
Sibling sexual abuse: A knowledge and practice overview (Yates & Allardyce, 2021) summarises some of the challenges raised in working with these families where issues arise and how at times we can present a “confused and confusing” professional response.
Prevalence, patterns and vulnerability
The most common form of abuse is from an older brother to a younger sister, but brother-brother, sister-sister and sister-brother abuse also occurs. In an American study the average age gap between siblings for abuse reported to law enforcement was 5.5 years, with 8 being the average age of the younger siblings. While the data is inconclusive, it is thought that around 15% of young people have engaged in sexual behaviour with their siblings, around a third of which may be abusive. This would mean there is a child in most classrooms affected by sibling abuse.
The abuse that occurs on average commences earlier, lasts longer and is more intrusive than sexual abuse outside of the family. It is less likely to be disclosed and when combined with other barriers such as disability or being outside the majority culture even less so. While abuse can occur in otherwise protective families, factors such as intrafamilial sexual abuse, domestic abuse, extra-marital affairs, physical chastisement, and poor supervision or sexual boundaries increase the likelihood of sibling sexual abuse.
Of particular concern during the context of lockdown are environmental factors such as babysitting younger siblings, unstructured/unsupervised time and the ready availability of inappropriate online content (the Internet Watch Foundation saw a 50% rise in public reports of online abuse during lockdown 1). Recent studies have highlighted both increased risk and reduced likelihood of disclosures during such times.
We're sorry ...
This is part of our safeguarding insights section. Our aim is to provide subscribers with a broader understanding of a specific topic through a researched and referenced article that contributes towards professional development and ensures that staff can be supported accordingly.
Want to find out more about subscribing to Safeguarding Network? Click the button below.