In October 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published its final report looking at child sexual abuse across multiple organisations. Key findings included:
- Individuals and institutions often thought children were lying when disclosing abuse
- Victims were often blamed for their own sexual abuse
Sadly, not being believed is a critical element to why children and young people continued to be abused. This is so evident with the publication of the documents around the prolific sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein. His horrific crimes sadly illustrate the fact that children, young people and Survivors are not believed especially when they are abused by people in positions of power. It was back in 1996, Maria Farmer reported to the New York Police Department and the FBI that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell had violently groped her. She was 25 at the time, and later found out her 16-year-old sister Annie had also been violated by Epstein. The FBI failed to investigate, and abuse of 100s of girls continued for many many years to come. (Source: theconversation.com/victims-have-told-us-the-worst-of-epsteins-crimes-for-decades-and-they-are-still-being-ignored-275137 5February 2026) This week Keir Starmer himself apologized to the Survivors of Epstein (and nearly lost his job) saying that he should not have believed Peter Mandleson who was a close ally of Epstein and promoted him to the role of US Ambassador. “I am sorry, sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you. Sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointed him and sorry that even now you’re forced to watch this story unfold in public once again.” (BBC News 5th February 2026)
He recognized he had been manipulated. Unfortunately this is often the case and Survivors stories are not believed. In our services and in our workshop in April we want to look at how we can put Survivors at the centre and offer some strategies out of the shame, pain, damage and difficulties sexual abuse has brought to Survivors lives. Abuse Survivors didn’t invite and often can not escape from due to people around them failing them on so many levels. Perhaps none more so than not believing Survivors – hugely brave individuals who should be protected, cared for and admired for their courage in speaking out.