Children can help battle abuse, report says

Sky News
June 30, 2014

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/national/2014/06/30/children-can-help-battle-abuse--report-says.html

Children can help design institutions that are safe for them, a royal commission says.

The Royal Commission into Institutional responses to Child Sexual Abuse says Children have knowledge and experience different to adults and can make a unique contribution to developing safe institutions.

As part of its interim report released on Monday, the commission says it has ordered research into the views of children about their safety from sexual abuse in institutions.

'In considering prevention, it is important that institutions do not overly rely on any one practice, including child focused programs,' the commission said.

'Rather, they need to holistically address the risk of child sexual abuse with a range of approaches.'

The commission has also ordered research into child-focused sexual abuse prevention programs in pre-schools.

'We have been told that for an institution to simply rely on children to disclose abuse is itself a risk factor for child sexual abuse,' the report said.

'Instead, institutions should proactively engage children in an age-appropriate manner about sexual abuse.'

'They can also remove obstacles to reporting and establish clear, child-friendly channels for raising concerns or reporting abuse.'