ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on the feelings aroused in carers working with sexually abused young people and the implications of these feelings in their practice. It presents the experience of carers of young people who are deemed to be ‘in need’ as defined in the Children Act 1989. In the course of the Committee’s inquiry, senior managers in children’s homes were asked to estimate how many young people in their care had been sexually abused prior to placement. The effect on grown-ups of working with sexually abused young people has largely been documented by therapists reflecting on their experiences of sessional work. Sexual abuse is a very intimate form of abuse or violence and children who have been sexually abused may have come to recognise not just physical contact but the intimacy of family life/group living as laden with sexual meaning.
