Child sexual abuse continues to be a significant and urgent national issue. The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (2023) revealed that 28% of Australians aged 16 – 24 have experienced this form of abuse, with a higher rate among girls than boys (37.3% vs 18.8%).
When a child discloses sexual abuse the experience for the non-offending parent/s can be overwhelming. Parents often blame themselves and experience a range of other intense emotions including anger, shame and doubt, making it difficult to support their child.
Parents who receive practical and emotional support during this time are more likely to be able to provide their child with the support they need. This can contribute to the healing process and better outcomes for both parent and child. Practitioners can help by normalizing parents' negative emotions and offering a safe space for them to express their feelings. This can help them provide consistent, nurturing messages to their children.
Practitioners who don't have specialist knowledge in responding to child sexual abuse may feel overwhelmed if they are working with families where there has been a disclosure. The aim of this webinar is to equip you with practice skills that will allow you to better support these families.
Co-produced by CFCA and Emerging Minds, the Supporting non-offending parents after child sexual abuse webinar recording is now available for practitioners to watch.
This webinar will help you:
- build your understanding of the impact of child sexual abuse on parents, the parent-child relationship, and children’s mental health and wellbeing
- better support non-offending parent/s who are navigating their child’s experience of sexual abuse, including making children’s wellbeing central to your conversations
- develop practice skills that will allow you to support parents’ wellbeing and parenting during their child’s recovery from child sexual abuse.
Click here to watch the webinar recording in full.