Three children were abused at Lancashire children's home
A review launched in the wake of a children's home abuse case has found staff '˜failed to appreciate the impact of controlling and grooming behaviour' that can be used by children to manipulate both staff and the children.
The comments were made in a Learning Briefing published by Lancashire Safeguarding Children Board following sexual abuse of three children living in the same residential home.
The perpetrator and victims all lived within the home, which cannot be named for legal reasons.
The document reveals the abuse had been over years for two victims and a few months for the other child. The abuser had groomed children and staff by a number of means and was a “skilled manipulator”. It said policies and systems had “not worked well in the case to protect the children”.
The review found the children did not know how to keep safe online - it reveals the abuser was using social media to gain compliance from the victims.
It said whilst the children were seen were seen to be ‘streetwise’, they actually knew very little about their own online safety.