Living Away from Home: Studies in Residential Care

1 total work

Sexually Abused and Abusing Children in Substitute Care

by Elaine Farmer and Sue Pollock

Published 22 September 1998

The authors of this book gathered data from a review of 250 files to compare the needs and vulnerability of sexually abused and abusing children with those of non-abused children in care. Drawing on information from their detailed follow-up study of 40 children, the authors explore the management of this group inside and outside their placements. They examine the risks these children pose to other residents and foster carers' own children, and the children's vulnerability to further abuse and exploitation. The authors highlight three different groups of children who have distinctive needs for management and placement: prostitutes; sexualized adolescent girls; and young abusers. The book provides a source of essential messages for policy and practice aimed at minimizing the risks to these children and others.