Almost One In Ten Suspect A Child Is Being Sexually Abused
Almost one in ten people suspect that a child is being sexually abused, a survey has shown. The YouGov poll of more than 2,600 adults showed 7% had such concerns but nearly one in four (23%) of them failed to report their suspicions due to a “lack of evidence”.
More women (58%) reported their suspicions than men (47%) while more 18 to 29- year-olds than any other age group said insufficient evidence stopped them passing on information.
Almost one in ten (9%) Londoners failed to report suspected child abuse because they feared the repercussions, although this reason did not deter the rest of the country, according to the poll.
Meanwhile, 4% of 18 to 29-year-olds made no report to the authorities of their worries because they “did not know how to”.
The poll was commissioned by ITV1’s This Morning which is running a week of special reports on the subject.
Results from the survey also showed that more than one in three people (34%) believe it is a parent’s responsibility to teach their child how to protect themselves against abuse.
But despite this 37% of parents admitted they had not discussed “inappropriate touching” with their child.
Almost four out of five people surveyed (78%) said they would support children being taught about the problem as part of sex education in schools.