‘Siblings as Better Together’: Social Worker Decision Making in Cases Involving Sibling Sexual Behaviour

Abstract

Sibling abuse is arguably the most prevalent form of family violence (Meyers, 2014), with sibling sexual abuse more common than parental sexual abuse (Krienert and Walsh, 2011). However, research on social worker decision making has been limited to situations concerning parental abuse, with almost no attention paid to situations where a child in the family presents a risk. This grounded theory study analyses from interviews with 21 social workers in Scotland their retrospective accounts of decisions relating to sibling living and contact arrangements regarding 21 families in which sibling sexual behaviour has occurred. It finds that decisions are made intuitively, influenced by a practice mind-set, 'siblings as better together'. This mind-set comprises three underlying perspectives: children as vulnerable and intending no sexual harm to others; sibling relationships as non-abusive and of intrinsic value; and parents as well-intentioned protective. These perspectives encourage a focus on immediate safety rather than emotional harm, and could be said to extend Dingwall et al.'s (1983) 'rule of optimism'. There is a danger of the victim child becoming lost. The study opens up a new area of research, its findings of relevance for professional groups beyond social workers including specialist nurses and other allied health professionals.

“It’s Just the Abuse that Needs to Stop”: Professional Framing of Sibling Relationships in a Grounded Theory Study of Social Worker Decision Making following Sibling Sexual Behavior

“…This research aimed to explore social workers' thinking processes behind the decisions they were involved in making following sibling sexual behavior becoming known. From rigorous grounded theory analysis of the social workers' accounts, Yates (2018) found that under conditions of uncertainty, social workers make largely intuitive decisions, influenced by their relationships with children and families, (Yates, 2018, p.181) This current paper continues to report from this original study by expanding and adding depth to the particular findings related to the underlying perspective of Sibling relationships as non-abusive and of intrinsic value.…”

“…As reported in Yates (2018), the perspective was maintained by social workers sometimes doubting whether any sibling sexual behavior had indeed taken place. Where it was believed that it had occurred there was often a resistance to labelling the sexual behavior as abusive.…”

“…The methods and theoretical model derived from the first and only known study of such a nature are reported in Yates (2018). This research aimed to explore social workers' thinking processes behind the decisions they were involved in making following sibling sexual behavior becoming known.…”

Sibling sexual abuse: why don't we talk about it?

“…In Yates’ () doctoral research exploring social workers’ retrospective accounts of their decision making in cases involving sexual behaviour between siblings, analysis of these accounts found that social workers framed sibling relationships as non‐abusive and of intrinsic value. It was not within the social workers’ underlying perspective of sibling relationships to consider their providing a possible context in which abuse could take place.…”

Preadolescent Peer Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Literature Review

“…PAPSA is an understudied phenomenon; however, recent studies have pointed to an increasing number of contexts in which preadolescents are involved as victims and offenders, for example, in cases of sibling sexual abuse (SSA; e.g., Tener, Tarshish, & Turgeman, 2017; Yates, 2018). It is important to state that the current literature review was designed in order to focus on PAPSA that takes place outside the family context in order to explore the way young and preadolescent children are exposed to PSA in other life contexts.…”