Go back

What support do children and their families need after sexual abuse?

Proposal Summary

Specialist sexual assault service delivery is driven by what gov and professionals think survivors need after sexual abuse. What support do children need to recognise CSA? Immediately after? Families?

---

It is difficult to know how the broader government sector responds to child sexual abuse. What does each role do? What are the principles that help them work together? How do children adn their families access the care pathway? It is difficult for children to find information to recignise an issue as sexual abuse, and find an entry way for support. It is not possible to understand what a speciliast sexual assault dervice does. People focus overly on a child having access to sexual assault counselling. why should the child have to go to counselling? why not the person who did it? And what about the adults in the child's life? Do they know how to help the child, what to say, how to hjelp themselves so they can help the child? And what about the schools and others groups and sports organisaitons in the child's life. What they say, how they frame it, act, respond and behave has a much mbigger impact on the child's recovery than anything that happens in a counselling room. Too many people in the community thin kthat if police do not action a criminal response, this means that the sexual abuse did not happen. And this is the context and communiyt that the child has to recover in - with the people around them not even beleiving it happened. It is even worse when a child did is responsible for the sexual abuse. There is a focus on their recovery, and letting him stay at school. This is confusing to other students, teachers, parents. People can be very mean and bullying towards victims, and they are often the people who have to leave the school. What do child survivors of sexual assault need services to do to help them recover, that is not only focussed on the childs feelings - but on their familiy and their whole community?