No. 34: Disclosure

What is disclosure? (NSPCC)

Disclosure is the process by which children and young people start to share their experiences of abuse with others. This can take place over a long period of time – it is a journey, not one act or action.

Children may disclose directly or indirectly and sometimes they may start sharing details of abuse before they are ready to put their thoughts and feelings in order.

Not all disclosures will lead to a formal report of abuse or a case being made or a case being taken to court, but all disclosures should be taken seriously.

It takes extraordinary courage for a child to go through the journey of disclosing abuse. It’s vital that anyone who works with children and young people undertaking this journey is able to provide them with the support they need.

What should I do? (2015 DfE guidelines)

To ensure the safe handling of a disclosure from a child, there are a number of basic rules that should be followed:

• Don’t panic – remain calm and reassuring in your manner
• Give the child your full attention to demonstrate you are listening carefully and taking the information seriously
• Let the child take their time, go at their own pace and use their own words
• Reassure them that they did the right thing by telling someone, and that they have been brave in doing so
• Assure them that it is not their fault and you will do your best to help
• Let them know that to, ensure they will be safe, you will need to tell someone else
• Let them know what you are going to do next and that you will let them know what happens
• Don’t make promises you can’t keep

As soon as possible, you should record what was said or seen ensuring the following:

• Capture what the child said or saw, using the words (including any explicit language, names or places) children share as best as you possibly can
• Make a note of any questions you asked
• Ensure that if hand written, this includes the date, time and where the disclosure took place, who you are and sign it
• Share this with the DSL or their Deputy if not available, as soon as possible

What else do I need to remember?

As adults, we need to remember that children disclose in many ways, often not through spoken means. We therefore must be curious to the things that we see and hear and record and report them.
As adults we should also remember the following points:

• Disclosures come in many forms including children’s friends repeating what they have been told by another child
• Children are likely to disclose to an adult that they have trust in, maybe someone who they work with in other than in more formal teaching situations
• We should be confident to ask children if they are ‘ok’, “is there something that you want to talk about” when we are concerned about them
• Is it ok to ask questions so long as these do not ‘lead’ the child to an answer that we have suggested in our question. An example of this could be if we said “it sounds like your dad is a really mean person?”
• Remember that children are likely to be upset or angry but could equally seem very calm, lack emotion or flippant about what they tell us
• Children with additional needs, those with physical or learning needs are statistically more likely to suffer abuse
• We also need to remember that should a child disclose abuse, we are likely to find this distressing. It’s therefore really important that you seek support from the appropriate person, the DSL or Headteacher should be able to help with this, or find a suitable person for you to talk to
• However, we must remember that aside from those appropriate adults in your setting, the contents of any disclosure is confidential

Useful links

NSPCC: Recognising and responding to abuse
NSPCC: Let children know you’re listening