Final report into institutional child sexual abuse handed down

After 57 public hearings spanning five years, 1,300 witness accounts and more than 8,000 harrowing personal stories from survivors, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has finally wrapped up and its final report was handed to the Governor General today.

"It is now apparent that across many decades, many of society’s institutions failed our children. Our child protection and criminal and civil justice systems let them down. Although the primary responsibility for the sexual abuse of a child lies with the abuser and the institution of which they were part, we cannot avoid the conclusion that the problems faced by many people who have been abused are the responsibility of our entire society. Society’s values and mechanisms which were available to regulate and control aberrant behaviour failed." - Final Report, Preface

The Final Report contains 409 recommendations in 17 volumes that cover the key areas of the Royal Commission's inquiry:

• The Inquiry

• Understanding child sexual abuse in institutional contexts

• Child safe institutions

• Support and treatment

• Particular institutions

• Beyond the Royal Commission

Volumes 6, 7 and 8 cover Child Safe Institutions. They focus on ways that organisations can better prevent, identify, respond to and report child sexual abuse. They contain 59 recommendations that cover:

• approaches to community-wide prevention

• 10 Child Safe Standards to make institutions safer and ensure children’s best interests are central to their operation

• strengthening children’s safety online and improving the way institutions respond to online abuse

• improving the way institutions respond to and report matters relating to child sexual abuse

• strengthening record-keeping practices and information sharing.

Many institutions the Royal Commission examined did not have a culture where the best interests of children were the priority. Valuing children and their rights is the foundation of all child safe institutions. Improving child safe approaches in organisations reduces the risk of all forms of child abuse, including sexual abuse.

The findings and recommendations of the Royal Commission are comprehensive, and it may seem hard to know where to start to make improvements in your own organisation. Fortunately, this is my area of expertise! Please get in touch and we can discuss ways I can help you.

Protecting children and promoting their safety is everyone’s business. Together we can make things better.

More information on the Royal Commission's Final Report can be found here.