Sexual abuse in child care system ‘shocking’: report

Children who live in foster homes or care homes are three to four times more likely to suffer sexual abuse, according to a report by researchers at Leiden university and quoted in the Volkskrant.


Children with a mental handicap are ten times more likely to be sexually abused, says the report, which has not yet been officially published.
The report was written for the Samson commission which investigates sexual abuse of children in government-run homes. The research was carried out among child care staff and the children themselves, who were asked to fill in a questionnaire.
According to the Volkskrant, Child Care Nederland is blocking the Samson commission report and advising child care workers not to cooperate.
The full report is due to be published at the end of 2012, but in an interim report in 2011, the commission said it was shocked at the nature, extent and frequency of abuse within the child care system.
The Samson commission was set up in the wake of the Deetman commission which looked into child abuse in Catholic institutions.

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