The development of an innovative group working with female, non-abusing carers is described. Part educational and part therapeutic, it sits squarely within child protection procedures and forms part of an interagency approach to protecting children from sexual abuse. Group processes are described and difficulties are explored, including those experienced by the women themselves in relation to child protection procedures. Current service approaches and attitudes may have potentially adverse consequences for the ultimate aim of child protection and these are considered together with a discussion of the value of alternative approaches. KEY WORDS: child protection; sexual abuse; non-abusing carers; groupwork P artners for Protection grew out of a joint working partnership between the Sexual Behaviour Unit, itself a collaboration between mental health services, the National Probation Service and Barnardos in the North of England. Child protection and interagency collaboration is at the forefront of government drives such as Working Together (Department of Health et al., 1999) and one of the strengths of the project is its interagency and multidisciplinary skill base. Child abuse has also always attracted much debate and focus, whether as a target for reduction and improved intervention or related to the specific issue of sexual offenders and their treatment and management.Female carers are frequently central to the process of child protection, identified either as the primary protector or, when things go wrong, blamed by society, by their children and often by the women themselves (Smith and Saunders, 1995;Schonberg, 1992;Faller, 1989;Dietz and Craft, 1980 perpetrator, where responsibility for the abuse lies, and onto the choices and behaviour of the female caregiver. However, a mother's response to her child's disclosure does affect the child's future psychological wellbeing (Everson et al., 1989) and this, coupled with the fact that, where it is safe to do so, rehabilitation at home can be a positive outcome for the child, may justify some such scrutiny being given to women within the child protection process. Mothers of sexually abused children often receive a negative press and are viewed pejoratively by others, being seen as psychologically weak, dependent upon the abuser and often with emotional baggage and mental health problems of their own. However, it is a misconception that parents of abused children experience greater levels of mental illness or more significant mental health problems than the general population (Stanley and Penhale, 1999;Gibbons et al., 1995;Thoburn et al., 1995) and the homogeneity previously perceived among such women is now also being challenged (Smith and Saunders, 1995;Muram et al., 1994;Scott and Stone, 1986). This paper seeks to describe a recently developed initiative working with mothers where there were real risks or actual sexual abuse regarding their children. The group itself will be described in addition to group dynamics and group processes. The child protection process wi...
