(this guidance is taken from Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, paras 6.43 – 6.48)
The available UK evidence on the extent of abuse among disabled children suggests that disabled children are at increased risk of abuse, and that the presence of multiple disabilities appears to increase the risk of both abuse and neglect (see Standards 5, 7 and 8 of the National Service Framework for Children,Young People and Maternity Services)Disabled children may be specially vulnerable to abuse for a number of reasons. Some disabled children may:
- have fewer outside contacts than other children
- receive intimate personal care, possibly from a number of carers, which may both
- increase the risk of exposure to abusive behaviour and make it more difficult to set and maintain physical boundaries
- have an impaired capacity to resist or avoid abuse
- have communication difficulties that may make it difficult to tell others what is happening
- be inhibited about complaining because of a fear of losing services
- be especially vulnerable to bullying and intimidation and/or
- be more vulnerable than other children to abuse by their peers.
Safeguards for disabled children are essentially the same as for non-disabled children. Particular attention should be paid to promoting high standards of practice and a high level of awareness of the risks of harm, and strengthening the capacity of children and families to help themselves. Measures should include:
- making it common practice to help disabled children make their wishes and feelings known in respect of their care and treatment
- ensuring that disabled children receive appropriate personal, health and social education (including sex education)
- making sure that all disabled children know how to raise concerns, and giving them access to a range of adults with whom they can communicate. Those disabled children with communication impairments should have available to them at all times a means of being heard
- an explicit commitment to, and understanding of, disabled children’s safety and welfare among providers of services used by disabled children
- close contact with families, and a culture of openness on the part of services
- guidelines and training for staff on good practice in intimate care; working with children of the opposite sex; handling difficult behaviour; consent to treatment; anti-bullying strategies; and sexuality and sexual behaviour among young people, especially those living away from home.
Where there are concerns about the welfare of a disabled child, they should be acted on in accordance with the guidance in managing individual cases within these procedures, in the same way as with any other child. Expertise in both safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and in disability has to be brought together to ensure that disabled children receive the same levels of protection from harm as other children.
Where a disabled child has communication impairments or learning disabilities, special attention should be paid to communication needs, and to ascertaining the child’s perception of events, and his or her wishes and feelings. In every area, children’s social care and the police should be aware of non-verbal communication systems, when they might be useful and how to access them, and should know how to contact suitable interpreters or facilitators. Agencies should not make assumptions about the inability of a disabled child to give credible evidence, or to withstand the rigours of the court process. Each child should be assessed carefully, and helped and supported to participate in the criminal justice process when this is in the child’s best interest and the interests of justice.
In criminal proceedings, witnesses aged under 17 are automatically eligible for assistance with giving their evidence. The special measures they may be provided with include screens around the witness box so they do not see the defendant, video-recorded evidence in chief and live video links so that they may not have to go into the courtroom at all, and intermediaries and aids to communication to facilitate good communication.
Achieving Best Evidence (2006) guidance for investigators includes comprehensive guidance on planning and conducting interviews with children, and a specific section about interviewing disabled children:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/docs/achieving_best_evidence_final.pdf
