Sexual abuse of children and youth in residential care: An international review

Abstract

Sexual abuse of children and youth in residential care. An international review Early Child Development and Care 133: 101-114.

Experiences of Young People with Harmful Sexual Behaviors in Services: A Qualitative Study

“…It was also highly concerning that a small proportion of these young people were sexually aggressive towards female staff members, and in rare cases towards men who they considered to be 'weak'. This might reflect the strength of the young person's sexual deviance, a sign of their own trauma, or an act of resistance to adult authority (Timmerman & Schreuder, 2014). Wylie & Griffin (2013) note that it is crucial that while services work holistically with these young people, they do not forget that some of these young people do pose serious risks -and that forgetting about this risk would be both unsafe and unethical.…”

Safe and Sound: Exploring the safety of young people in residential care

“…This confusion is evident in a number of previous studies: where young people, staff in residential care and the broader community have found it difficult to differentiate different types of behaviours and may reinforce skewed beliefs (Green & Masson, 2002;Timmerman & Schreuder, 2014). In some instances, adults have determined that due to their developmental stage, young people were likely to engage in sexual relationships and that this was a normal and natural part of growing up.…”

“…Although much of this evidence is historical and relates to residential facilities that were run quite differently to the ways that residential care is provided in contemporary times, child sexual abuse remains a risk for many young people in care. In addition to child sexual abuse perpetrated by adults within residential care settings, greater attention has recently focused on problematic sexual behaviour amongst young people, and the exploitation of young people by adults outside the residential care setting (Hallett, 2015;Timmerman & Schreuder, 2014).…”

“…There is no Australian (and very little international) literature exploring how children and young people perceive safety from abuse or peer sexual violence in residential care, or how they believe they might best be protected and supported if safety issues arise. Rather than capturing children and young people's own accounts, much of the international literature has relied heavily on the views of intermediaries (such as from residential care staff and clinician reports, documentation and official reports), and has failed to consider children and young people's lived experiences (Timmerman & Schreuder, 2014). This is problematic because children's experiences of harm are often under-reported, and children and young people can provide unique observations on the experience of abuse in residential care as well as offering advice on how best to support children and young people in care.…”

“…It is only recently that researchers have considered the nature and extent of sexual abuse in residential care. In their review of the literature, Timmerman and Schreuder (2014) argue that before 1992, no publications existed within academic or professional journals that discussed the issue of child abuse in residential care generally. As early as the late 1990s, researchers have argued that much of early residential care research focused on adult-defined problems, primarily related to placement outcomes and cost effectiveness, with little consideration of what young people themselves saw as important.…”