Imaginif...the spirit of Christmas lasted.

Working with children who have been sexually assaulted is the most satisfying job I have ever done. Working with parents and foster carers of those children is an honour: a privilege. I have recently sat with some amazing foster carers and we discussed sexualiased behaviours and how to react if disclosures ever came the foster carers way. In respect and thanks to those amazing foster carers, I have re trenched a post written more than a year ago:

What Can I Do if My Child Tells Me Someone Has Done Bad “Sex” Things to Them?

Imaginif…you knew what to do if your child disclosed sexual abuse.

Child sexual assault is against the law. Don’t keep it to yourself. First, believe your child and then TELL someone in a position to help you. Telling about child sexual abuse helps to end the prevalence figure of one in three. Child sexual abuse WILL CONTINUE if we don’t all take responsibility and tell someone when it has occurred. Tell the school principal, your local doctor, the police, a friend, the local Welfare agency. TELL SOMEONE who will help you.

It is not your responsibility to investigate and prove any disclosures of sexual abuse. Leave this to the Police or to the welfare agency in your state tasked with the responsibility of investigation. It is your responsibility to protect, believe and support your child.

Never approach the alleged perpetrator of the child sexual abuse. Focus on your child. Protect them. Minimize contact between them and the alleged abuser.

Talk, talk, talk to your child. Bust the secret right open. Apologise to your child for not having known that it happened and regain your child’s trust and confidence. Reassure your child that you will do something to stop it from ever happening again.

Allow your child to sleep in your bedroom if they feel scared or insecure. Your child needs to know that you are indeed a safe person and that you can, and will protect them.

After the police or the local welfare agency has interviewed your child, take your child to a child sexual abuse therapist. Talking about the sexual abuse helps to clear the child’s mind and allows them another avenue of being heard and believed.

Surround your family with supportive people. People who doubt or blame you are not helpful to your child’s recovery. This is a great time to increase your family’s support network and to train all of your children in protective behaviours.

Imaginif…we wiped out sexual abuse by telling someone when it happens. Sexual predators demand secrecy. Take away the secrecy and we make the predators think twice about sexually abusing another child.

Recommended subscription to a FREE newsletter on child safety: Kidproof.

Related blog from families.com: The Grooming Process of a Child Sexual Predator.

For further help on protecting your child against sexual assault, please use the games and activities in Parent Sense: a FREE tutorial, written by Megan Bayliss, on keeping kids safe from sexual predators.

Children in care (foster children or children in orphanages and group homes) do not always have a suitcase to keep their belongings together. Foster care is too frequently characterised by numerous moves. Without a suitcase, a bag or storage boxes, these moves mean that precious belongings and symbols of memory (trinkets, presents, photos, etc) become lost.

Next time you throw rubbish into your green plastic bag, think of how a child in care may feel carting their belongs from home to home in a green garbage bag. Do you want to foster kids or destroy them like garbage?

Give a little and heal a lot: Project Hotel Shampoo for kids in care. Good quality clean clothes and suitcases, bags, etc also gratefully received.

The financial cost of child abuse is ten times the financial cost of obesity in Australia.

Child abuse and neglect costs Australians ten times more than obesity, a landmark report has found. The report has also found that the number of cases of abuse in our community may be five times higher than the official figures.

The Cost of Child Abuse in Australia, a joint research report by Access Economics, Australian Childhood Foundation and Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia at Monash University, is the first comprehensive report of its kind in Australia. It found that the real cost of child abuse to the Australian community in 2007 was $10.7 billion, and could be as high as $30.1 billion, including the monetary value of the pain and suffering that they experience.

The figures account for the costs associated with protecting and caring for child victims of abuse, including doctors, nurses, police, social workers, judges, probation officers, teachers and foster carers. It also includes responding to crime associated with child abuse and neglect, additional government expenditure on educational assistance for victims, poorer long-term labour market outcomes and an estimate of the total cost of the pain and suffering experienced by child victims of abuse.

“The cost of child abuse to the Australian community is staggering,” said Dr Joe Tucci, CEO of Australian Childhood Foundation.

“The reality is that we can, and should, be doing more to protect our children. If we can prevent child abuse before it starts, we will be protecting vulnerable children and also reducing the financial burden on the Australian community,” said Dr Tucci.

“This is the first comprehensive, national study of the costs of child abuse and neglect in Australia. It clearly demonstrates the importance of accountability and transparency. To spend so much and know so little defies belief. There also needs to be greater investment in research and evaluation,” said Professor Chris Goddard, Director of Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia at Monash University.

“Official estimates from Government child protection authorities are unreliable because there is no uniform national data collection system,” said Professor Goddard.

While there were 36,000 substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect in Australia in 2007, the report estimates that there  are approximately 177,000 children abused or neglected and this figure could be even higher.

“This shows that child abuse is still very much an invisible problem and it is likely that thousands of children are left unprotected from abuse and neglect each year,” said Dr Tucci.

The report also calculated that the cost to the community of the consequences of abuse over the lifetime of children who were abused for the first time in 2007 is approximately $13.7 billion and could be as high as $38.7 billion, including the monetary value of the pain and suffering that they experience.

“The scars of child abuse can stay with victims for their whole lives. If we trace those children who were abused for the first time in 2007 for the rest of their lives, we would see the full extent of its effects,” said Dr Tucci.

“It will have an impact on their physical and mental health, increase their need for educational assistance and put them at higher risk of drug and alcohol problems and crime. It will also lead to emotional trauma. Not only do the children suffer, but the community also pays a high price for these consequences,” said Dr Tucci.

“To put this into perspective, the projected $38.7 billion cost to our community is only for those children abused in 2007 for the first time. When you consider that this sort of figure can be applied for a new group of children experiencing abuse and neglect for the first time in 2008 and so on every year, the financial and social costs to all of us are astronomical,” said Dr Tucci.

“The results of this report highlight the urgent need for a national uniform approach to one of Australia’s most serious – and financially crippling – problems,” said Professor Goddard.

The report coincides with a new national campaign, Stop Child Abuse Now, launched this week by the Australian Childhood Foundation.

“The new campaign features a powerful new television commercial designed to compel Australians into taking action against child abuse. Doing nothing is not an option,” said Dr Tucci.

The campaign directs people to www.stopchildabusenow.com.au where they can learn more about how they can prevent child abuse and better protect children.

The launch of the new report comes a day before World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse, Wednesday 19 November.

This is a Media Release from the Australian Childhood Foundation.