issues keeping them safe
By Carole Lander
When the public hearings and private sessions closed on December 31 , 2016 , a staggering 2,200 people had reported incidents to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse , which is investigating where systems have failed to protect children , and making recommendations on how to improve laws , policies and practices to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in institutions . It will wrap up at end of this year .
On May 1 , Commissioner Justice Coate welcomed a large audience gathered at a Melbourne symposium to hear the findings of research reports published by the Commission . Until now , there has been very little Australian research into this topic .
Professor Gwynnyth Llewellyn ( Faculty of Health Sciences , University of Sydney ) presented on behalf of children with disability . She is an authority in this area and her work has led to national strategies for change in Australia . Llewellyn reported that there is already some Australian evidence that children with disability are proportionately over-represented in the out-of-home care and education sectors but further work is needed to gather accurate data and to address their particular circumstances of heightened risk .
The research data that does exist ( mostly from overseas ) has never relied heavily on the needs as perceived by the children themselves . To redress the balance , for their research , Professor Morag McArthur and Dr Tim Moore from the Australian Catholic University listened to children in residential care where the incidence of sexual abuse is highest . They found that these young people often don ’ t feel supported and want to be more in control of their lives . Opportunities for sexual abuse to happen in residential care are many and varied : it can occur between peers ; children may be approached by adults in the centre or by others from outside who prey on their vulnerability . Because these children have no role models to show what a ‘ normal home life with two parents ’ is like , they may not recognise abuse as something wrong . “ At the end of the day ,” said Moore , “ these kids want to be around adults who care about them .”
In one interview , the researchers asked a child what ‘ residents ’ needed in order to feel safe . The child replied , “ You know , we ’ re just kids ”. Although this seemed like a throwaway line , this child ’ s reflection is a powerful reminder that those who live in residential care are really just kids who deserve to be provided with as much of a child-like childhood as possible .
This is a message that Llewellyn drives home in the paper she presents through the Commission . She says , “ We should understand that ‘ children with disability ’ are ‘ children ’ first . The disability doesn ’ t define the lives of children ”. However , she concedes that their everyday lives are not always like those of other young people because they are often segregated . They might live in an institution or , at school , they might be in a separate classroom from the mainstream students . They live with a higher ratio of adult-tochild for good reasons but this can have its dangers as well . They are more likely to find themselves with opportunistic or unfamiliar adults and in opportunistic settings where sexual abuse can occur .
“ We need to remember that they are at heightened risk of sexual abuse ,” says Llewellyn who recommends targeted strategies to counter this .
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