Child sexual abuse in foster and kinship care, special guardianship and adoption: Learning from safeguarding reviews 2007–2022

For most children and young people who cannot remain living safely at home, foster care, kinship care, adoption, and special guardianship provide safe and caring families. However, for a few this is not the case – children can and do experience sexual abuse while in care.  

This is the first study to focus on children who were sexually abused by members of the household or family friends while living with foster carers, kinship carers, special guardians or adopters. It examines and analyses safeguarding reviews involving 87 children conducted between 2007 and 2022 and identifies what happened and why. The findings, including hasty assessments, demanding court timescales, children’s fear of disclosure, and not taking into account historical allegations, are explored to encourage practitioners to reflect on agency safeguarding practice and their work with children who are sexually abused. 

Who is this book for? 

This is a vital resource for practitioners and managers in fostering, adoption and kinship care, as well as panel members. It also has important messages for associated professionals in health and education. 

What you will find in this book 

The guide provides useful information on the signs and indicators of child sexual abuse and its long-term consequences, and how children can be better protected. Cases and extracts from review reports, coupled with the voice of the child, bring these to life. It covers:

• how early abuse and neglect can make children vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation
• the impact of sexual abuse on children’s behaviour and emotions
• what can prevent children from speaking out about abuse and how to address this
• how best to protect and respond to children who may be experiencing abuse
• how perpetrators gain access to children, hide their abuse and avoid scrutiny
• challenges for professional practice, including the dangers of fixed thinking, the importance of supervision, and the effect of the work environment

To make the knowledge from this study more readily accessible, a short companion guide has been developed.

Authors

Hedy Cleaver is an Emeritus Professor at Royal Holloway College, University of London, with experience as a social worker and child psychologist. The findings from her research have had an identifiable impact on UK policy and practice in respect of children and families throughout the past 35 years. Relevant publications include Child Protection, Domestic Violence and Substance Misuse: Family experiences and effective practice (2007), Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacity (2011), and Parenting a Child Affected by Domestic Violence (2015). She was part of the research team responsible for the last triennial review of serious case reviews (Brandon et al, 2020).  

Wendy Rose OBE held children’s policy responsibilities at the Department of Health as Assistant Chief Inspector, following social work and senior management experience in the NHS and local authority, and a Senior Research Fellow position at the Open University. She was a professional adviser to the Scottish Government on developing its children’s policy, Getting it Right for Every Child. She also worked with the Welsh Government on its safeguarding reforms and was an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University. She has published widely including, with Julie Barnes, the second biennial analysis of serious case reviews in England, Improving Safeguarding Practice (2008). 

For CoramBAAF, Hedy and Wendy have authored Safeguarding Children Living with Foster Carers, Adopters and Special Guardians: Learning from case reviews 2007–2019and its companion, A guide to reflective practice (2020), and also Caring for children who have experienced domestic abuse: A guide to supporting foster carers, adopters and kinship carers(2022).

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