Violence and Sexual Abuse Against Children and Young People With Disabilities

The objective of this report is to strengthen the knowledge base about violence and sexual abuse against children and young people with disabilities. To meet this objective, the report identifies the scope of abuse, the characteristics of the victims, the risk and protection factors and how professionals work with suspicion, discovery and action.

The analysis in the study comprises three parts:

The first part examines court cases regarding violence and sexual abuse against children and young people with disabilities using register-based analysis.

The second part examines children and young people's own experiences with abuse, based on questionnaire data from the Danish Longitudinal Survey of Children and the Longitudinal Study of Children in Care.

The third part examines the daily work of professional within the field of detection and prevention of abuse against children and young people with disabilities, based on a minor questionnaire survey of professionals in this specialist area and a small number of interviews with people with knowledge/experience of the field.

The report was financed by the National Board of Social Services.