How to protect your child from abuse

Who presents most risk?

Ask any parent about what worries them most in terms of protecting their child from abuse and most often the answer will be 'paedophiles', strangers, and abduction. As someone who has been dealing with all forms of child abuse for over 30 years, and specializing in dealing with child sexual abuse for the past 20 years, I know that these worries have reached the level they have, not because there has been a big increase in paedophilia and child abduction by strangers, but because we now know more about them and much more publicity is given to them.

In reality, child sexual abuse is as old as history and the biggest risks to children come not from strangers but from people who are close to them and trusted by children and parents alike. And it isn't just adults who might be a risk to them; older children and adolescents could also behave sexually abusively with small children.