In 1995 a questionnaire was sent to Scotland’s residential child care services. Two-thirds of the services that responded believed they were caring for children who had been abused and one-third for children who had abused others. Where children who had abused others were present, in 91 percent there were also abused children in the same service. Results were consistent across the variables (service type, gender, and age of residents). In a few cases, allegations of abuse had been made against staff; this was more common in services for males than females. Staff requested more training and support in their stressful role. These findings have implications for the practice and training of residential staff, management policies and procedures and the design of new services. There should be clear “safe caring” policies in all agencies and external managers must have a good day-to-day knowledge of the situation in each unit for which they are responsible. A therapeutic approach is necessary and must be built into the thinking of staff and managers alike. Figures, references