ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the benefits, complexities and implications of kinship fostering for children who have experienced abuse, particularly sexual abuse within their families. It seeks to identify the challenges for social workers when assisting families to make safe decisions for their children and to highlight the particular issues relating to sexual abuse which would make placements within extended families risky or positively dangerous. The chapter argues that over-optimism and positive assumptions about the advantages of kinship fostering for children may lead, in some cases, to dangerous practice and have long-term costs for the children concerned. Sexual abuse of children is primarily the abuse of power relationships between adults and children. The child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome is extremely helpful in making sense of children's reactions to abuse and explains how children's attempts to cope with trauma often lead, sadly, to their continuing abuse.
