Social Work Now, Issue 31, pages 19-23.
Working with boys who have behaved in a sexually aggressive manner with other children has offered me an opportunity to observe both the children’s behaviour and the adult responses to this behaviour. These pre-adolescent boys were typically victims of insecure attachments with neglect and multiple separations a feature of their young lives. They had been emotionally, physically and, sometimes, sexually abused. They were behaviourally and emotionally deregulated, and lacked social skills, development and education. These children often moved from one placement to another, where they could be placed with other vulnerable children and cared for by untrained caregivers. These boys are likely to continue to sexually hurt other children (Farmer and Pollock, 1998; Hall, Matthews and Pearce, 1998; Pithers, Gray, Busconi and Houchens, 1998).