Institutions working with children should be required by law to report suspicions of child sexual abuse, a seven-year independent inquiry concluded. It found crimes are often concealed from authorities, allegations are not recorded, victims ‘treated as if they were unworthy of protection’ and blamed for the abuse. Many individuals who failed to report abuse to the police or social services failed to meet their professional or moral obligations but did not break any laws in doing so. The inquiry said ‘systemic change’ is needed to ensure reporting of allegations of child sexual abuse, and said urgent action is required to protect children. Many institutions have ‘historically inadequate measures’ which fail to safeguard children from abuse that happened and continues to happen in schools, care homes and in religious settings. Child sexual abuse is an epidemic that leaves thousands of victims in its poisonous wake.