Sarah was looking forward to seeing her two young children after a hard day's work at the office. But her joy at spending the evening with them turned to dismay when she discovered that her four-year-old daughter, Sally, had been sexually abused. Equally shocking was the revelation that the abuser was her six-year-old son, Nigel. His behaviour emerged only when Sally told her mother she didn't like playing doctors any more. Asked why, she replied: "I don't like it when Nigel examines me and gives me operations."
Sadly, Nigel and his sister's case is far from unique. Recent research shows that sexual abuse and inappropriate sexual behaviour between young siblings is far more common than abuse by other family members such as fathers and stepfathers. What is new is that local authorities and child protection charities are starting to concentrate on this area of abuse after more than a decade when adult men have been cast as the villains.
In Nigel's case, an investigation by social services found that his mother's previous partner had often been violent towards the whole family and had forced Sarah into sexual behaviour in front of the children.
The young boy was assessed and his mother agreed to a pioneering programme of work with Warwickshire's "sexualised inappropriate behaviour service" (Sibs). Work took place over the next six months with the family. This involved counselling and help with parent skills for the mother, and joint play work with the children to help them talk through their experience and develop appropriate behaviour.
That was 18 months ago. Social services support for the family has now been withdrawn. But Warwickshire social services department is still running Sibs - one of the few local authorities specialising in this area - amid growing recognition that sexual abuse of children by children is one of the most common forms of sexual abuse.
Only last month, a report by the NSPCC challenged the widespread belief that fathers are chiefly responsible for sexual abuse of children. A survey of the childhood experiences of 2,869 young people aged 18-24 found that abuse by brothers or stepbrothers was twice as common as that by a father or stepfather.
The findings were splashed across the newspapers, and commentators predicted that the findings would trigger a major change in approach to sexual abuse in the family. But probation officers and social workers say awareness of sibling abuse has been growing for years. Interviews with adult sex offenders have revealed a cycle of abuse, with offenders starting their abuse in their early teens after being the victim of sexual or physical assaults. However, experts admit it is only now that therapeutic work with young abusers is being offered as a specialist service.
Driven by a real desire to break this predatory pattern of abuse, Andrew Durham, a senior social worker, set up the project in Warwickshire. What began as a joint health and social services initiative has developed into a permanent specialistassessment and treatment service that has been hailed by the government's social services inspectorate as an example of good practice.
Figures show the high demand for the service, which works sympathetically with young people to retrain and redirect their sexual behaviour. Between 1998 and 1999, Sibs dealt with 62 cases of sexually inappropriate behaviour and child sexual abuse - ranging from over-sexualised five-year-olds, to sexually abusive 11-year-olds and 14-year-old rapists. Three in four referrals were for children aged 10 and over. Ninety per cent of children referred to the project were boys. Most of the victims were female.
The story of Nigel and Sally, in which Nigel tried to simulate sexual intercourse, is drawn from actual cases worked on by Sibs. Most children referred to the project are older. One typical case involved two families where a young teenage boy from one family was found playing "sexual" games with a younger boy and girl from another. Interviews revealed the teenager had been using his father's collection of pornography and was being bullied at school. He was given a police caution following his family's agreement to work with Sibs - work which took place over 12 months. The children in the other family were also offered help and support from the local social services children's team.
The age of the children referred for help may vary - but most share a vulnerability, according to Mr Durham, who has received an advanced award in social work in recognition of his work on the project. "Young people who abuse often have very difficult problems in their lives, which they are unable to deal with in the ways most people do," he says. "They often have experiences of being powerless, of being put down. They want to feel more powerful. For boys, in a distorted way, it reinforces their feelings of being male."
An analysis of cases seen in 1998 shows that 80% of children had family problems. Of these, 54% had been sexually abused, 45% were in care, 28% were physically abused and 42% were emotionally abused. More than half (52%) had problems at school.
Cases are referred to Sibs through the police, social services or schools. An assessment is made of the child or young person and of their willingness to work with the project. An assessment of the family is also made and the social worker makes every effort to work with the parents, who may be angry or in denial. Part of the Sibs work involves setting up a network of people, including the family, to support the young person. They are given practical guidelines to help prevent opportunities where the young person might abuse again.If the young person agrees to work with Sibs, a sexual history is taken. Boys who may want a macho image are taught to be assertive, rather than aggressive.
A similar approach is taken in Oxfordshire, where the Oxfordshire young abusers' project (Oxyap) has been treating young people for the past four years. It runs alongside the Ark - a separate initiative specialising in treating younger children, run by charity NCH Action For Children. So far this year, Oxyap has had 20 referrals and there is now a waiting list for assessments that can run to several weeks. The project has just been awarded £10,000 government funding which will be used to increase staff and reduce waiting times.
Charities such as ChildLine, which every year receives thousands of calls from victims of child abuse, want to see more local authorities offering these specialist services. "Research shows you can identify children who are abusing sexually and may go on to become an adult abuser, so positive work like this is very helpful," says Hereward Harrison, ChildLine's director of policy. "The younger they are identified the better. This can stop the horror and the devastation that comes from a career of abuse which ultimately ends with the abuser in prison."
For Andrew Durham, the message is simple. "If you can work with a person and change their development, you could be preventing quite a large number of future victims," he says. "Our work has only just begun. There will continue to be thousands more victims until every social services departments includes these preventative measures in their child protection policies."
Sibs is on 01926-813110; Oxyap is on 01865-221201.
