Safeguarding: The 12 barriers preventing child sexual abuse disclosures

An NSPCC-commissioned study (Allnock & Kiff, 2023) has set out to review the evidence on barriers to disclosures for children and young people, the “motivators and facilitators” that help them to disclose, and their experiences following disclosure.

Researchers from the University of Bedfordshire studied 43 papers and reviews and have compiled a list of 12 barriers and four motivators and facilitators.

The research was commissioned after the final report of the Independent Inquiry for Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA, 2022) recommended the introduction of a mandatory reporting duty in England and Wales for disclosures of child sexual abuse.

Twelve barriers

The 12 barriers to disclosure are broken down into categories including developmental or emotional and mental health factors, barriers relating to other people, and barriers relating to societal norms. The 12 barriers are:

1. Developmental factors: Some children and young people describe how they were unable to disclose sexual abuse because they lacked knowledge and understanding about abuse, were unable to recognise their experience as abusive, or they lacked the words to articulate their experience.
2. Self-blame: Children and young people often blame themselves for abuse and downplay its severity.
3. Emotional turmoil: Feelings of shame, embarrassment, guilt and sadness counteract the potential positive outcomes of seeking help.
4. Protective coping mechanisms: Children and young people describe a variety of avoidance techniques to cope with abuse, which may result in avoiding, ignoring or burying memories and experiences. They may also adopt “an active resistance to disclosing” in order to maintain control that has been taken away from them by the abuser.
5. Awareness of potential impacts of disclosure on self and others: Children and young people are frightened and worry about how disclosing will impact on themselves and others. They hold “an acute sense of responsibility” around the potential impact of a disclosure on those they care about.
6. Adverse familial contexts: Children and young people report a range of adversities experienced in their family contexts, which can make disclosure particularly daunting or diffcult, such as “poor intra-familial relationships or unstable familial contexts characterised by abuse, violence, or other dysfunction”.
7. Isolation, lack of trust and absence of opportunity: Children and young people talked about feelings of isolation and feeling they had no one they could trust. Adverse familial contexts, isolation and lack of trusted and open relationships often underpinned the absence of opportunities for disclosure.
8. Professional and organisational constraints: Prior negative perceptions or experiences of authorities, services and professionals within them impact on willingness to report abuse as children and young people do not expect they will receive a supportive and positive response – including from the child protection or criminal justice system. Fears about losing control over their information and confdentiality can also play a role.
9. Cultural and societal norms: “These norms appear to play a signifcant role in the invisibility of sexual abuse, where ‘blame culture’ and denial are prevalent, and the fear of negative reactions from parents/carers and broader society discourages young people from disclosing.”
10. Language and labelling: The use of particular language and labelling can perpetuate “blame culture” and minimise the experiences of survivors, which can be perpetuated through media reporting and professional practices that are not sensitive or inclusive to the lived experience of diverse backgrounds of children and young people.
11. The lack of discussion and taboo surrounding sexuality: This broader societal silence, particularly in closed religious communities, gang associations, or online networks, contributes to the erasure of victims’ narratives and makes it diffcult for individuals who are members of such groups to comprehend their experiences in order to subsequently seek help.
12. Inaccessibility or lack of knowledge of formal support services: The absence of and gap in provision poses a signifcant barrier to disclosure. Examples of lack of resources included scarcity within rural communities, and specialist services to support individuals with protected characteristics, e.g. boys and LGBTQ+ communities.

Four motivators/facilitators

The report says that professionals named as mandatory reporters under any potential new rules “must be equipped to not only identify signs and indicators of child sexual abuse but to develop the rapport, relationships and trust that are so critical for children and young people to be able to tell someone what has happened”.

It adds: “Understanding how to promote opportunities and connection is critical for providing children with safe space to disclose.”

The paper identifies four factors that researchers say can help to support children and young people to disclose abuse.

1. Motivations for disclosing are varied: Motivations to disclose child sexual abuse shared by children and young people included self-recognised mental health and emotional wellbeing needs and altruistic reasons. However, while motivations alone can sometimes be enough, victims often require accompanying trust, support, empathy, openness and compassion from others to disclose.
2. Internal facilitators of disclosure: Older age, and females, are often cited in the literature as characteristics associated with higher propensity to disclose. While emotional turmoil often acts as a barrier to disclosure, it can also provide a purpose and be a facilitator to help-seeking when children and young people recognise they need support. Some young people also emphasise the importance of inner confidence and self-belief to reach out for help.
3. Circumstantial facilitators of disclosure: Children and young people’s abuse is often identified by a third party, which they say can be beneficial in helping them to disclose. Children and young people can experience this positively, where their emotional and practical needs are supported when they are unable to cope themselves. However, this can also be experienced as distressing when done without consent, leaving them feeling a loss of control.
4. Purpose, opportunity and connection to facilitate disclosure: Children and young people talk about what motivates them to disclose abuse, but often require opportunity and connection within their relationships to do so successfully. Trust is critical, as are non-judgemental responses, openness to listen, validation of the disclosure and gentle persistence.

Further advice from SecEd

This year SecEd has featured advice from Rachel W, an abuse survivor who suffered at the hands of her abuser for more than five years before finally being able to disclose at school aged 14.

Rachel has written about the barriers to disclosure she faced and offers her advice to school staff. She has also appeared in a recent episode of the SecEd Podcast focused on safeguarding and disclosure in schools. 

Find these via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/rachel-w/

Download the full report

The full report stretches to 97 pages and provides much more detail on each of the factors outlined about.

Entitled Listening to children and young people’s experiences of disclosing child sexual abuse: Insights for the proposed mandatory reporting duty in England and Wales, the study has been written by Dr Debra Allnock and Joe Kiff of the Safer Young Lives Research Centre at the University of Bedfordshire and was commissioned by NSPCC Learning.

Download the report via https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/2023/disclosing-child-sexual-abuse-children-and-young-peoples-experiences