The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) has given the Children’s Protection Society a grant of $87,000 for a scoping project to analyse the out-of-home care services that currently exist for young people with sexually abusive behaviours.

The information gathered in this project will provide the context for future development of therapeutic care services for young people who have been removed from the family home due to risks of them sexually abusing other children in the home.

There are circumstances where legal and/or welfare professionals consider it unsafe for a young person who has engaged in sexually abusive behaviours to remain at home for a period of time, especially if they have younger siblings.

Removal from home under such circumstances is recommended as a way of ensuring safety for both known and potential victim/s to protect the young person from possibly re-engaging in sexually abusive behaviours.

Manager of the Sexually Abuse Counselling and Prevention Program (SACPP), Ms Jenny Wing said: “Placing a young person with sexually abusive behaviours into a residential unit with other young people with similar issues does not produce the best results for everyone involved unless the unit is well resourced to manage high risk behaviours of this nature. A scoping project will gather the information needed to shape policies for ‘best practice’ in service delivery.”

Some of the emotions that may be experienced by a young person with sexually abusive behaviours are:

• Shame because they know they did the wrong thing;
• Embarrassed by their behaviours and the idea of discussing them with others;
• Fear about what is going to happen next-- punishment, rejection and being labeled by others;
• Helplessness in stopping their behaviour;
• Anger towards others for disclosing their behavior or wanting them to address their behavior;
• Sadness and depression--negative feelings may leave them feeling overwhelmed and struggling to cope.

The Children’s Protection Society is one of Australia’s oldest independent child welfare organizations and provides therapeutic services for young people aged 10-17 who have engaged in sexually abusive behaviours who reside in northern metropolitan Melbourne.

This is a voluntary treatment program, however there are situations where a young person is mandated to attend counseling by the Children’s Court.