For most children and young people who cannot remain living safely at home, foster care, kinship care, adoption, and special guardianship provide safe and caring families. However, for a few this is not the case – children can and do experience sexual abuse while in care.  

This companion guide draws on information in the associated Good Practice Guide, Child sexual abuse in foster and kinship care, special guardianship and adoption: Learning from safeguarding reviews 2007–2022. This guide details the results of a study of safeguarding reviews involving 87 children, who were sexually abused by members of the household or family friends while living with foster or kinship carers, special guardians or adopters.

The findings explain what happened to the children and why, and identify relevant and recurring themes relating to professional culture, systems and practice that can hinder professionals and organisations from safeguarding children effectively. These include hasty assessments, demanding court timescales, children’s fear of disclosure, and not taking into account historical allegations.

Hedy Cleaver:
Hedy Cleaver is an Emeritus Professor at Royal Holloway College, University of London, with experience as a social worker and child psychologist. The findings from her research have had an identifiable impact on UK policy and practice in respect of children and families throughout the past 35 years. Relevant publications include Child Protection, Domestic Violence and Substance Misuse: Family experiences and effective practice (2007), Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacity (2011), and Parenting a Child Affected by Domestic Violence (2015). She was part of the research team responsible for the last triennial review of serious case reviews (Brandon et al, 2020).

Wendy Rose:
Wendy Rose OBE held children’s policy responsibilities at the Department of Health as Assistant Chief Inspector, following social work and senior management experience in the NHS and local authority, and a Senior Research Fellow position at the Open University. She was a professional adviser to the Scottish Government on developing its children’s policy, Getting it Right for Every Child. She also worked with the Welsh Government on its safeguarding reforms and was an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University. She has published widely including, with Julie Barnes, the second biennial analysis of serious case reviews in England, Improving Safeguarding Practice (2008).