**15. The importance of disclosures made in informal settings**

A focus of the Cleveland Inquiry was on scrutinising formal, forensic style interviewing. However, it is often those caring for children following abuse who receive the most information from the child.

In Cleveland, the social workers recognised the importance of this, and detailed information was recorded in social work files. Foster carers in particular were asked to keep detailed diaries and encouraged to make notes of what the children said, often at relaxed times of day or situations of intimate care such as bath and bed time. These were often spontaneous, unprompted accounts or direct re-enactments of abusive experiences, the significance of which may not have been appreciated or understood by the carers, who may have been very puzzled by the child's statements and actions.

Children's self-disclosure of sexual abuse is often fragmented, since they only reconstruct their experiences through this process. Everyday activities in foster families can be threatening to a child as they may trigger memories of the abuse. On the other hand, these activities can also create a shared frame of reference that facilitates a child to disclose. Because foster carers naturally react strongly to these experiences, an important task for social workers is to guide foster families through the disclosing process and enable them reflect on what the disclosure evokes.
