About this Guide

The Guide

• is inclusive of child sexual abuse occurring within families, by other people the child or young person knows or does not know, in organisations and online
• is relevant to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse of all ages, including as their needs change over time
• recognises that children, young people and adult victims and survivors may have experienced multiple instances of abuse throughout their lives and may have had many experiences of disclosure
• considers the specific service needs of the following key priority groups: victims and survivors of child sexual abuse; children and young people and their support networks; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; people from culturally and linguistically diverse and faith-based communities; people with disability; LGBTQIA+ people; and people living in rural and remote communities
• addresses the specific skills and knowledge required for different modes of responding to child sexual abuse, such as telephone, online or face-to-face approaches. 

It is important to remember as you work through this Guide that the knowledge and skills are aspirational. You or your work team may wish to consider further training in this area, and the Guide could be a useful resource to support training and supervision.

Who is this guide for?

We know children, young people and adults who have experienced child sexual abuse may seek help from and engage with a wide range of services and organisations at different points in their life. This Guide is designed to assist you to respond to a child, young person or adult with lived and living experience of child sexual abuse in your current work context. We have provided information relevant to you, whether you work in specialist sexual assault services or generalist and mainstream services, or are employed by organisations of different sizes and types and operating in urban, regional or remote areas.

Practice Areas

This Guide is structured into six Practice Areas identified from a comprehensive analysis of Australian and international evidence on responses to child sexual abuse and an extensive consultation process. This Guide is informed and enriched by the insights, practice wisdom and lived and living experience of the 60 individuals from more than 50 organisations who provided feedback on draft versions of the Guide. We wish to acknowledge and thank all stakeholders who participated in the consultation process. 

Each Practice Area draws out themes to guide you or your organisation to engage with people who use your service. The Practice Areas are:

1. Working safely with trauma
2. Embedding cultural safety
3. Responding to child sexual abuse disclosures across the lifespan
4. Being victim and survivor-centred and building trust for healing and recovery
5. Coordinating service systems and developing partnerships
6. Prioritising workforce development and wellbeing

At different points under each Practice Area, we have noted different knowledge, skills or practice responses specific to the age or development level of the victim or survivor. This is because:

• healing can be a lifelong journey; some victims and survivors may experience different effects at various points in their lives and, for some, adverse effects will be ongoing
• many services engage predominantly with victims and survivors who are children and young people, or victims and survivors who are adults
• victims and survivors present with different needs at various points in their lives
• different professional approaches are required depending on the age and/or developmental level of the victim or survivor
• responding to and supporting non-offending family, kin, carers and supporters of victims and survivors is particularly critical for children and young people.

Other Key Resources

In June 2023, the National Office published the Minimum Practice Standards: Specialist and community support services responding to child sexual abuse (Minimum Practice Standards), which provide a set of principles and quality benchmarks for services and organisations to promote safe and effective service provision. There are six Standards that organisations should meet to provide safe, effective services that support individuals who have experienced or been impacted by child sexual abuse. 

There is growing evidence relating to the prevention of child sexual abuse, including efforts to stop sexually abusive or harmful behaviour towards children and young people from occurring in the first place. The National Office is developing guidance resources for workers engaging with and supporting children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviours. 

These are part of a suite of resources that the National Office is developing to support and provide practice guidance for the sector. To reduce duplication and the burden on organisations, the resources are designed to align with each other and other sector standards such as the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

You may like to access the following national policy documents and other related practice guides to complement the information provided in this Guide

National policy

National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-30 

Safe and Supported: National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021-2031

The National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 

National Principles for Child Safe Organisations 

Keeping Our Kids Safe: Cultural Safety and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan 2023-2025 (under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022– 2032) 

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and National Board’s National Scheme’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Cultural Safety Strategy 2020-2025 

The Healing Foundation’s Looking Where the Light Is: creating and restoring safety and healing (a cultural framework for addressing child sexual abuse in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities)

National Standards

NASASV Standards of Practice Manual for Services Against Sexual Violence (3rd edition)

Minimum Practice Standards: Specialist and community support services responding to child sexual abuse

Practice Guides

Blue Knot Foundation: National Centre of Excellence for Complex Trauma: 

• Practice Guidelines for Identifying and Treating Complex Trauma-Related Dissociation
• Practice Guidelines for Clinical Treatment of Complex Trauma
• Organisational Guidelines for Trauma-Informed Service Delivery
• Talking About Trauma: Guide to Conversations and Screening for Health and Other Service Providers