The scale of child sexual abuse
In recent years, the number of survivors of child sexual abuse coming forward has risen sharply.
This has caused an increase in demand for public and third sector organisations providing support. Survivors are rightly insisting their experience are taken into account. This rise in demand follows several high-profile cases of child sexual abuse, and also continuing publicity surrounding the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. The rise is clearly shown in national statistics.
1. Source: Centre of Expertise on CSA ‘Measuring the scale and changing nature of child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation’ July 2017, section 3.3, page 11
https://www.csacentre.org.uk/research-publications/scale-and-nature-of-child-sexual-abuse-and-exploitation-report/scoping-report
(Further similar percentages are also cited page 10 ‘Whilst there is lack of consistency in definitions and methods which makes comparisons across time and countries complex, the conclusions in meta-analyses suggest that minimum estimates of CSA are 15–20% for girls and 7–8% for boys’)
2. Source: Leeds population figures are from Leeds GP Registered Populations Mid-2018, Leeds GP Data Extraction Programme. Public Health Leeds extracted the following population figures from Leeds GP registered, resident anywhere aged 0-15 inclusive, July 2018:
M 82,258 (5% of 82,258 boys = 4113 boys)
F 78,516 (15% of 78,516 girls = 11,777 girls)
(Total = 15,890 children)
3. Source: Centre of Expertise on CSA ‘Measuring the scale and changing nature of child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation’ July 2017, section 3.3, page 10
https://www.csacentre.org.uk/research-publications/scale-and-nature-of-child-sexual-abuse-and-exploitation-report/scoping-report
4. Source: Public Health Leeds advised the use of the terms ‘estimated’ and ‘are predicted to’.
The decision was made by Visible to include the adults in Leeds aged above 59 in the adults figures otherwise the figure would only be 38,000 and would have excluded this large part of the population.
Source: Leeds population figures are from Leeds GP Registered Populations Mid-2018, Leeds GP Data Extraction Programme.Public Health extracted from Leeds registered, resident anywhere aged 16+ inclusive, July 2018:
M 359,391
F 357,410
U 15
Total adults aged 16+ = 716,816
7% of 716,716 = 50,177
(Leeds registered, resident anywhere aged 16-59, July 2018:
Female: 267,118
Male: 280,523
Total: 547,641
So 7% = 38,335)
‘Tackling child sexual abuse should be everybody’s business and that is what Visible aims to do. Many of the adults that I have worked with have experienced sexual abuse as children.’
‘Disclosure can open a can of worms, each person will need something different, you may need to check in with the person, be flexible how you work and support the person.’