Sibling Sexual Abuse Summary

In February 2011, twin sisters Kellie and Kathie Henderson sat down with Oprah to tell their story of sexual abuse by their two brothers and father. The article, ‘Sibling Sexual Abuse: Uncovering the Secret’, analyzes the lack of awareness involving incest amongst siblings. Sibling sexual abuse is considered the least recognized form of incest (Ballantine & Soine, 2012). It has been shown in studies that this form of sexual abuse is also the least documented when compared to the other forms of sexual abuse (Dale, Witztum & Eleff, 1989). Many times when the victim of incest if being or has been sexually abused fails to view themselves as victims and are often to afraid to speak out about the wrongful acts done against them (Ballantine & Soine, 2012). Incest

amongst siblings has been said to be considered “child’s play” or a normal aspect of sexual development (Carlson, Maciol & Schneider, 2006; Weihe, 1997). While it can be hard to recognize the signs of sibling sexual abuse, there are signs that may bring attention to the acts, such as a change in behavior, a lack of engagement with people and introvert actions that may have no been present previous to these acts.

Based of the naivety of the victim, they may even feel as if the acts against them are normal or confused. The article goes on to talk about the behaviors in which incest amongst siblings may occur and the lack of identifying the acts (Asherman & Safier, 1990; Caffer & Conn-Caffaro, 2005). Ballantine and Soine go further into the awareness of incest by explaining the roles that social workers can play in assisting with bringing awareness and how to assist clients who may have been victims to sibling abuse and have just to open up or come to terms with it. If social workers are competent on signs as well as the ways to assist with clients who have experienced such wrongful doings against them, they can help to acknowledge the signs. As social workers, they also have job to know how to help process with the individual and report it to Child Protective Services (CPS) once the social worker is able to identify the possibility of incest by child

disclosure. Social workers are also required to figure out therapeutic services for that child once CPS is notified so that the child offender isn’t putting any blame and offending the sibling causing these acts. While its rare that adult disclosures the court system or therapy services are required, it is important that there be some kind of treatment to assist the survivor with issues such as mutuality, self-blame and guilt so that the survivor will be able to grow and move on with their lives.
This article, Sibling Sexual Abuse: Uncovering the Secret, is considered to be a descriptive article because it explains in detail the affects of incest on the survivor and how to go about addressing and helping the survivor with getting the h