Urgent action is needed to identify and prevent child abuse according to a major new study that suggests only one in eight victims in England comes to the attention of authorities.
About 50,000 cases of sexual abuse were recorded by police and local authorities in the two years to March 2014 but the findings indicate that official figures vastly underestimate the true scale of child sexual abuse. The actual number of children abused in that period is thought to be as many as 450,000.
The report, by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC), found that about 85% of sexually abused young people are not receiving help and treatment.
The majority of victims remain unidentified because the services that should protect them, including police and social services, rely on children to speak out, says the report. Two-thirds of cases, both known and unknown to the authorities, are believed to be victims of abuse in the family.
The study identifies better detection as key in helping prevent abuse, and calls for children as young as five to be given lessons at school to teach them about relationships and encourage them to discuss any concerns.
Simon Bailey, the national police lead for child protection and abuse, singled out as problematic children’s ease of access to technology, which he said was creating a generation who were “living out” what they saw online.
“I have had cases whereby 12, 13-year-old boys are abusing four, five-year-old girls because what they have seen online they just thought was normal behaviour.”
Bailey, the former chief constable of Norfolk police, added: “The scale of abuse identified within the OCC report is horrific and it confirms my belief that the police service has been dealing with the tip of the iceberg.”
The report, Protecting children from harm: A critical assessment of child sexual abuse in the family network in England and priorities for action, calls for a new strategy led by the government to prevent child sexual abuse, strengthen the responsibilities of those working with children, and ensure professional bodies work together more effectively to identify problems.
Among its recommendations is that all schools should equip children, through compulsory lessons for life, with the ability to understand healthy and safe relationships, and talk to an appropriate adult if they are worried about abuse.
Schools should take the necessary steps to implement a “whole-school approach to child protection”, where all school staff can identify the signs and symptoms of abuse, it added.
Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, said: “In recent years the terrible experiences of sexual abuse that some children have suffered in institutions or at the hands of groups of perpetrators have come to light and preventing and tackling these been made a priority.”
It was time to “wake up”, Longfield said, and urgently address the most common form of child sexual abuse – that which takes place within families or their trusted circle.
The report also calls for the development of a strategy for the prevention of child sexual abuse and for its implementation by departments, including the Department for Education, Department of Health and Home Office.
A spokesman at the Department for Education said that the government would carefully consider the report’s recommendations.
“As the prime minister made clear in his [Conservative party] conference speech, we are determined to get the very best to the frontline of social work and tackle failure,” he added.
“That is why this government has made tackling child abuse a priority – we set up the first ever cross-government child protection taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling this abhorrent crime.”
He added that the government was invested an extra £100m to support vulnerable children and providing £7m for specialist services for victims of sexual abuse.