Practices and responses that help or hinder disclosures of child sexual abuse: Perspectives from victim survivors and practitioners

Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a concerning social and public health problem, however there is limited knowledge around the practices and responses that best support safe disclosures of CSA from the perspective of victim survivors and practitioners. 

Objective: The study explored practices and responses that enable or hinder disclosures of CSA, in order to enhance service system responses. 

Participants: Fifty-one adult victims of CSA and twenty-three practitioners supporting victim survivors in Australia. 

Methods: Online in-depth interviews with survivors and Yarning sessions with practitioners were conducted between March and July 2024. The data analysis was informed by the Theory of Practice Architectures to explore the practices and responses that enable or hinder disclosures of CSA. 

Results: Only a small number of victim survivors (n = 8) had safe adults to whom they could disclose the abuse they experienced during childhood. Even in these cases responses to their disclosures were reported to be inadequate. Most participants had to disclose multiple times, in different forms, over their life course to be heard and for their disclosures to be acted upon. Findings highlight promising practices that help disclosures and what needs to change to support children's safety. 

Conclusions: Current Australian child protection practices may assume that children have a safe non-offending parent to disclose to. Our research shows that a deeper understanding of CSA is required, which privileges the voices and lived experiences of victim survivors to inform contemporary practice frameworks underpinning practitioner responses.