Is British Society Disintegrating? Of Course, the Kids Pay the Price

Domestic abuse 'biggest threat to child protection'

By Sean Coughlan
BBC News family and education correspondent

Domestic violence, family conflict and drink and drug abuse are the biggest drivers of the rise in child-protection cases in England, says the Local Government Association (LGA).

The organisation representing English councils has surveyed the councillors in charge of children's services about the causes of a 53% rise in child-protection cases over the past decade.

More than 80% identified domestic violence and substance misuse as being behind the increased numbers in their local authorities.

An average of 88 children are taken into care each day and the LGA asked the lead councillors for children's services for their view of the most common causes.

'Children in need'

The behaviour of adults around children - in the form of domestic violence, drinking and drug taking - was the most frequent explanation for councils having to intervene to protect 18,000 more children than a decade ago.

This was followed by factors such as poverty, housing problems and debt.

Figures published last week by the Department for Education showed 52,000 child-protection plans, identifying how to deal with children considered to be at risk, had been drawn up - a slight annual decline against a significant long-term increase.

These figures also showed domestic violence to be the most common factor for so-called "children in need" - much more so than issues such as abuse, gangs, trafficking or anti-social behaviour.

There are almost 400,000 "children in need" where there are concerns about their health or development and where they are at risk of being "significantly impaired" without extra support.

After domestic violence, the most common underlying problems are mental health issues, emotional abuse, drug and alcohol abuse.

Physical abuse, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation were all lower than the previous year.

Well, this is good news, at least, but I have serious doubts about the accuracy of the data. Not included, of course, are the sexual abuse inflicted upon children who are Gender Dysphoric. These should be included as sexually abused children, but the UK suffers too much from #PCMadness.

Funding pressure

But numbers of serious cases investigating fears of children suffering or facing "significant harm" have continued to climb.

There were more than 200,000 of these safeguarding inquiries - rising every year from 127,000 in 2012-13.

The Local Government Association is warning of the financial pressures on councils.

"Funding pressures are coinciding with huge increases in demand for support because of problems like hardship and family conflict," said Judith Blake, chairwoman of the LGA's children and young people board.

'Stop The Clock' Campaign Exposes the Grim Reality of Child Abuse

Child abuse laid bare by AMA NSW and Children's Hospital Westmead's Stop The Clock campaign

Kate Aubusson 

In a room on the second floor of the Children's Hospital Westmead is a team of specialised staff weighed down by a collective consciousness, burdened by countless horrific cases of child abuse.

The hospital's child protection unit has treated infants just days old, toddlers, school children and adolescents for brutal physical injuries, sexual abuse and neglect inflicted by adults who should have protected and nurtured them.

They have seen broken bones, bruises, burns, cuts, serious head injuries, abdominal and spinal injuries, babies shaken so hard their brain detaches from their skull, and the devastating effects of prolonged sexual violence.

"We see children, babies who come in in a state of starvation because they haven't received the food that they need to survive," senior social worker Calli Goninan said.

Dr Grace Wong, Professor Brian Owler and social worker Calli Goninan deal with horrific cases of child abuse at the Children's Hospital Westmead.  Photo: Janie Barrett

"We see children with chronic illnesses who have not been given the medicine they need. We have children living in terror every day, living in homes where there is domestic violence. We have children living with long-term shame and guilt because they have been [sexually] abused."

The abuse can go on for years.

"In fact, it goes on so long the child doesn't remember a time before the abuse," she said. "They can't recall a time when they felt safe and they can't remember a time when they have learnt an adult is trustworthy.

"Yet we expect these children to talk about what's happened to them."

It makes for uncomfortable conversation. But these doctors, social workers and therapists are speaking out for one reason: they need us to speak up.

The Child Protection Unit and the Australian Medical Association NSW on Wednesday launched the Stop The Clock campaign, to equip healthcare professionals and the public with the resources needed to rescue children from abuse.

Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Pru Goward at the Stop The Clock launch on Wednesday.  Photo: Janie Barrett

Every 15 minutes a child is abused in Australia, national data shows.

There were more than 42,400 substantiated cases of child abuse in Australia in 2014-2015, according to state and territory child protection and support services.

The number of child abuse cases has risen by 35 per cent since 2010-2011.

The campaign's website is not just a mine of information for doctors and the community, offering instruction on how to report abuse, and videos of the child protection unit staff sharing their experiences.

It also attempts to speak directly to children who may be victims of abuse, telling them: "It's not your fault, even if you're told it is … This is not a secret you should keep."

"It is so hard for kids to speak up but some do, and it takes incredible bravery to do so," Ms Goninan said. "As adults we need to listen, we need to believe [them]."

Paediatric neurosurgeon and former AMA president Brian Owler was prepared to treat children with tumour and trauma, but never expected he would have tiny victims of abuse in his surgical suite, such as babies with subdural haematomas after being violently shaken.

"It doesn't take much shaking of a baby to tear those little fragile veins that run between the brain and skull," said Professor Owler, the driving force behind the Stop The Clock

"Sometimes this is really just the tip of the iceberg," he said of the shaken babies who also presented with hemorrhages and multiple fractures that were at different stages of healing, the hallmark of repeated abuse.

"Meanwhile that little brain shrinks. That brain literally melts away, and with it melts away the potential and future aspirations of that child."

The child protection unit's consultant paediatrician Grace Wong rarely sees physical abuse in isolation. It's often accompanied by sexual and emotional abuse or neglect.

"In many cases the abuse is occurring in an environment where there is already a pattern of entrenched violence within the family and in the home.

"Parents and carers with limited support and struggling to manage a whole host of their own difficulties are particularly vulnerable," Dr Wong said.

NSW Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Pru Goward said the campaign was a call to action.

"We have all seen it. We have all sensed it. We need to be empowered to act on it," Ms Goward said. "The lives of our most vulnerable children may depend on what we do."

The connections between child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, and mental illness in adulthood was "frighteningly strong", Ms Goward said.

"They are tragically part of intergenerational abuse and neglect.

"I have met countless, countless women who are drug addicts or alcoholics who have their own children in child protection, [and] had a history of child sexual abuse.

"Parental substance misuse, domestic and family violence and parental [mental health] problems are so often not only common drivers of abuse but the key to repetition of that cycle," she said.

This was a clock that absolutely needed to be stopped, she said.

The original article with "It's not your fault" video can be seen here.

Freda Ens Says She Was a Baby When Her Birth Mother Sold Her for a Bottle of Beer

Sexual abuse haunts children as open secret

in indigenous communities

Within indigenous society, the knowledge that children are being molested is often an open secret -- but one to which few are willing to give voice. Instead, they dance around the words, talking instead about child welfare, bullying, substance abuse, inter-generational trauma and community conflict

    Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett talks with reporters at a meeting of the
    Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat in Halifax on Wednesday, in an
    April 27, 2016, file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Kristy Kirukup and Sheryl Ubelacker, The Canadian Press 

Freda Ens says she was a baby when her birth mother sold her for a bottle of beer.

The buyer was an unrelated man she would later call "Grandfather." Her earliest memories include being sexually molested by a number of men in his extended family.

"I don't ever remember being able to say, 'No, you can't do that,' or, 'No, I don't have to do that,"' recalled Ens, 59, who grew up in B.C.'s Old Massett Village, a Haida community.

"I would wake up and it would be dark and I wouldn't know who it was ... It could have been an uncle ... it could have been another cousin.

"The one I knew was my dad, who went to jail,

and then my grandfather."

Child sexual abuse is a disturbing reality in many of Canada's First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities, research is beginning to show.

It's about time, too. It was 1987 when I attended a seminar that included considerable discussion of Native Residential Schools. I had been working for the previous 5 years in the village of Lytton, British Columbia, which has a large indigenous population - a population with many, many social problems. The lectures on Residential Schools explained a lot of the reasons for the many behavioural problems among First Nations people. 

It is good that some of this information has come out about what went on in those schools, but the inter-generational behaviour that affected people like Freda Ens and thousands of other indigenous children is still much in need of exposure. Many people still need help to overcome the evil that first invaded their grandparents or great-grandparents in those schools. I don't see any programs in place to deal with it, only a disproportionate number of First Nations people in prison.

    St Georges Residential School, Lytton B.C.

Extensive interviews with social scientists, indigenous leaders and victims undertaken over the past few months by The Canadian Press show that the prevalence of sexual abuse in some communities is shockingly high. And only now are prominent indigenous leaders speaking out publicly for the first time about the need for communities to take a hard look.

It's a painful legacy connected to almost 120 years of government-sponsored, church-run residential schools, where aboriginal leaders say many native children were physically and sexually molested by clergy and other staff.

The abused in turn became abusers, creating a cycle

of childhood sexual violation that has spread in

ever-expanding ripples from one generation to the next

Within indigenous society, the knowledge that children are being molested is often an open secret -- but one to which few are willing to give voice. Instead, they dance around the words, talking instead about child welfare, bullying, substance abuse, inter-generational trauma and community conflict.

    Lytton, B.C.

While The Canadian Press has a policy of not identifying the victims of sexual assault, Ens agreed to be identified in this story as part of her ongoing efforts to raise awareness about the problem in aboriginal communities.

Community health nurse Shelly Michano, who lives and works in Biigtgong Nishnaabeg First Nation in northwestern Ontario, is on the front lines. She sees the consequences of sexual abuse among some residents, which can manifest as alcohol and drug abuse, chronic illness and suicide.

"I would say as First Nations people, you're hard-pressed to find anybody who doesn't have personal experience with this," said Michano.

"But it's never, ever quite on the surface. There's still lots and lots of stigma attached around that. And people don't necessarily openly speak about it still."

Finally, however, some aboriginal leaders are beginning to tear away the veil of secrecy, acknowledging that until the cycle of sexual abuse is brought to light, it will continue, threatening the well-being of future generations of Canada's First Peoples.

"Sexual abuse and incest is amongst our people, there's no question," Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said in an interview.

"Have the courage to stand up and say: 'This is an issue and let's expose this to the light of day' ... that's the obligation of the community leadership and the communities themselves."

Sexual violation of children is an ugly fact of life worldwide, crossing all cultural, educational and socio-economic boundaries. Within Canada's overall population, research shows one in three girls and one in six boys experience an unwanted sexual act, with 30 to 40 per cent of victims abused by a family member.

But the prevalence of abuse among indigenous populations is difficult to assess accurately, experts say -- in part because of conflicting evidence, and also because the issue is so taboo within communities that it often remains shrouded in silence.

In a 2015 review of studies, published in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, researchers say child sexual abuse is one of the major challenges facing indigenous communities across the continent, but data is often contradictory.

    Old Masset, Haida Gwaii, B.C.

Research is crucial

"Sometimes, reported incidence rates of CSA are comparable to those found in the general population. Other times, incidence is much higher," the authors write, concluding that research to determine the actual scope of the problem in Canada "is crucial."

In a 2014 Statistics Canada report, a higher proportion of aboriginal people reported experiencing some form of childhood physical and or sexual maltreatment before the age of 15, compared to their non-aboriginal counterparts. The study also noted it is possible that some of that abuse may have been a direct or indirect impact of residential schools.

In his work as the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which looked at the toll taken on survivors of residential schools, Sen. Murray Sinclair frequently heard gut-wrenching stories about sexual abuse and its devastating long-term effects. But he has no way to know the true extent of the problem.

"There is very little data, people are just not looking at it," Sinclair said.

"In our calls to action at the TRC, we said one of the things we lack in this country is an understanding of the magnitude of the problem and we need to look at better ways of gathering data so we can develop solutions that are properly focused."

Intergenerational sexual abuse is one key reason behind widespread substance abuse, a form of self-medication that helps both victims and perpetrators push down their emotional pain and bury their shame, health experts and aboriginal leaders say.

"If somebody's going through trauma or addicted to alcohol or drugs, there's a reason," said Jason Smallboy, deputy grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, an organization representing 49 indigenous communities in northern Ontario.

"And probably 80 per cent, 90 per cent is related to sexual abuse."

The abuse has gone beyond residential school survivors, their children and grandchildren, said Sinclair.

"We are looking now at a situation where intergenerational children are abusing each other," he said. "Where members of street gangs are victimizing young girls, girls are going missing and being hauled into the sex trade in significant numbers."

The impact of childhood sexual abuse is expected to be a central issue raised when hearings begin early next year for the inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women. An interim report is due in November 2017.

"Throughout the (pre-inquiry) hearings on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, we certainly found the incidents of child abuse and the association of child abuse was very, very frequent, in both the descriptions of the victims and in the perpetrators," said federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett.

One of the first steps in addressing sexual abuse is acknowledging its existence and saying it is not OK, said First Nations child advocate Cindy Blackstock.

"We have to make sure that our kids know that elders are the keepers of the traditions and no one in our community, including elders, ever has a right to harm a child," Blackstock said.

"We have to, as a group, embrace what hurts and we have to say to those young people that 'We know that's part of your experience and we are not going to deny it. We know it is there and we want to be there with you to do something about it."'

Ens, who knows her memories of abuse are far from unique after nearly three decades of working with victims of crime, said she hopes sharing her experiences will help others scarred by being sexually violated as children.

"My biggest message would be to tell someone, and that it is not your fault," she said.

"When we don't talk about it, we are just as guilty as the perpetrator. We are covering it up."

Indigenous Child Sexual Abuse Detailed in Queensland in Shocking Report

A formerly secret report delivered to the Newman 

government revealing sexual abuse and prostitution of 

Indigenous children in far north Queensland is now public

 Queensland’s minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships, Curtis Pitt, 

said the decision to release a shocking report on child sexual abuse was difficult. 

Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP Australian Associated Press

Shocking claims of sexual abuse and prostitution involving Indigenous children in far north Queensland are merely the tip of the iceberg, researchers say.

The state government on Saturday released a redacted version of a document, commissioned by the Bligh government and compiled by Griffith University’s Prof Stephen Smallbone.

It examined three West Cairns suburbs and the Indigenous community of Aurukun, on the Queensland Cape, and found a disturbing prevalence of sexual abuse involving underage youth.

The rate of sexual offences in Aurukun was 6.6 times the Queensland average, and 2.2 times in West Cairns, over a 12-year period to 2012, according to police data.

One-quarter of the offences in West Cairns involved an offender who was under 18, and in Aurukun the offenders were aged between 10 and 53.

“These official data undoubtedly represent the proverbial tip of the iceberg,” the report said.

Researchers identified violence, substance abuse, a “disturbing frequency” of rape and sexual assault, street prostitution and a high rate of sexually-transmitted diseases (STI) as key problems in West Cairns.

Interviews in Aurukun “painted a perhaps even more disturbing picture”, than in West Cairns, the report said.

There, the STI prevalence was an “alarming” 56 times the Queensland rate, and 7% of cases involved children under 16.

Peer pressure, coercion, sexual teasing, violence, alcohol-related problems and the “nocturnal” nature of youth were all troubling, researchers noted.

Sound a bit familiar?

The report was delivered to the Newman government but was kept secret because the authors requested its release be delayed so as not to compromise the implementation of prevention efforts.

Its authors suggested various ways to tackle the complex problems, including school-based ethics programs, family-based interventions and cultural instruction.

The state’s minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships, Curtis Pitt, said the decision to release it publicly was difficult.

“Shying away from these challenges is clearly not an option and we want to have this conversation out in the open,” he said.

But Aurukun and West Cairns were not the only communities where such “deeply shocking” problems occurred, he added.

Pitt announced a specialist steering committee headed by Stanley Jones QC to examine the issue. It will report by the end of the year.