Assessing Risk of Victim Crossover with Children and Young People who display Harmful Sexual Behaviours

Abstract

Assessments of children and young people who display harmful sexual behaviours need to consider – at a broad level – the safety of other children at home, in the community and in the wider family. To date, issues of victim selection have been marginalised in the relevant literature. Drawing on our experience of working with this client group, this article uses four composite case studies that reflect the heterogeneity of children and young people who sexually abuse and applies recent research findings about intra‐ and extra‐familial sexual abuse to make suggestions for good practice in assessment and intervention with young people who display harmful sexual behaviours in different settings. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages Young people with harmful sexual behaviour are a heterogeneous group who may be more likely than adults to vary victim type. A formulation approach to risk assessment allows us to move beyond merely the likelihood of future risk, to consider more dynamically issues of victim selection and circumstances in which risks may present. Assessments of family relationships, in particular sibling relationships, can help sharpen our approach to risk assessment and the potential for family‐community crossover.

Children and Young People Who Harm Others

“…The majority of the referrals shared histories of childhood trauma and abuse, underpinning the contention made at the beginning of this editorial. This finding is also reflected in the third paper by Stuart Allardyce and Peter Yates () who used case studies to illustrate the impact of previous experiences of abuse for understanding young people's own sexually harmful behaviour. Hackett et al .'…”

“…Stuart Allardyce and Peter Yates (), in the third paper, also writing from their practice experience, outline a model of risk assessment which conceptualises the different risks that a young person who has sexually harmed may present to different potential victims in different settings. The authors use four contrasting case studies to illustrate a specific developmentally supportive approach to risk management and reduction.…”

“…Consequently, the authors stress that to reduce risks, previous experiences of trauma and abuse also need to be addressed. Allardyce and Yates () state that adolescent males who cause sexual harm represent a heterogeneous group who show a greater propensity to vary victim type compared to adult offenders, reflecting Hackett et al . 's earlier finding.…”

‘Siblings as Better Together’: Social Worker Decision Making in Cases Involving Sibling Sexual Behaviour

“…Araji, 2004), but evidence has challenged the absence of these indicators as being sufficient to allay concerns about sexual behaviour between sibling children (Cyr et al, 2002;Krienert and Walsh, 2011). In these instances an examination of the sibling relationship dynamics may be necessary to determine whether the behaviour is abusive (Allardyce and Yates, 2013).…”

Sibling sexual abuse: why don't we talk about it?

“…Echoing Alpert (), Caffaro and Conn‐Caffaro (: 609) conclude therefore that ‘sometimes incest that appears consensual is actually based on fear’, and that sibling sexual behaviour construed as exploratory may often be better described as abusive. From their analysis of this literature, Allardyce and Yates () advise that in the absence of large age gaps or obvious use of coercion, the dynamics of the sibling relationship may need to be explored in order to inform an assessment of the nature of the sibling sexual behaviour.…”