ABSTRACT
This chapter considers some of the abuse that girls and women may face throughout their lifespan if receiving some form of residential care in homes or systems. There are a range of possible forms and institutions, and the focus here is restricted to girls in the looked-after system, adult women in mental health care and older women in residential care for the elderly. The high levels of abuse already experienced by looked-after children that make the abuse they sometimes suffer in residential care homes. In 2014, actor Samantha Morton spoke out about the sexual abuse she had experienced and been aware of more broadly when she was in residential care in Nottingham. The chapter focuses on sexual violence experienced within institutions, and the ReSisters research is one of the few studies to consider this. It shows that, from birth until death, some girls and women who use residential state care of different types face sexual and physical abuse.
