Active Research

Investigating experiences of child sexual abuse disclosure and disbelief in the Family Court

    • Disclosure of child sexual abuse
    • Needs of victims and survivors
    • Response to child sexual abuse
Research Topic areas 
  • Government & policy responses
  • Intersection with other violence/victimisation
  • Justice & legal responses
Project Duration
Start: August 2023
End: October 2024
Geographical Scope
Nation-wide
Populations
Victims and survivors
Young adults (18-25 years)Adults (26-65 years)Older adults (>65 years)
Gender
All genders

Project Lead

Tunya Petridis, Petridis MacSween Consulting
Dr Morag MacSween, Petridis MacSween Consulting
Project lead email: tunyapet@yahoo.com.au

Project Team

Associate Professor Jodi Death, Queensland University of Technology

Background

This project addresses the framing of children as unreliable witnesses to their own experience in the Family Court where there are simultaneous allegations of child sexual abuse and parental alienation. Further, this project will investigate the reversal of custody in these circumstances, and the extent to which the direct experience and meaning-making of child victims and survivors is captured and considered.

Aims

This project will examine how adults make sense of their experience as children in the Family Court, what evidential weight children’s disclosures and choices should have on Family Court decision-making, and what Court stakeholders need to know about simultaneous allegations of child sexual abuse and parental alienation.

Methods

This project will employ a qualitative co-design methodology, using semi-structured, trauma-informed interviews with 10-12 adult victims and survivors, followed by thematic analysis. Literature reviews will summarise critical bodies of knowledge, including regarding parental alienation, disclosure, perpetrator behaviours and children as agentic subjects. The Advisory Group guiding this project will include greater than half victim and survivor membership.

Significance and Dissemination

This project will advocate for the direct voice of victims and survivors and contemporary research carrying appropriate weight in Court decisions. We will treat participants as credible witnesses to their own experience and as expert commentators. We will challenge the relevance of parental alienation where there has been child sexual abuse.

Further Details

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Funding body:
The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse
Funding budget:
$35,000 grant
Monitoring and governance:
This project is guided by oversight of the Project Advisory Group
Australian Human Research Ethics Committee:
This project is subject to ethical oversight by the Queensland University of Technology Human Research Ethics Committee
Prevention of child sexual abuse

From bystanders to allies: a structural feminist perspective for supporting child victims and adult survivors of child rape and torture.

Emma Rees
Queensland University of Technology
Needs of victims and survivors

Supporting Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: Rapid Evidence Reviews

Michaela Guthridge
The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse
Understanding child sexual abuse

Ngagagee Ngulu Murrup Durra (‘The Ngagagee project’)

Graham Gee
Murdoch Children's Research Institute

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Preventing child sexual abuse by understanding perpetrators’ motivations
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Ngagagee Ngulu Murrup Durra (‘The Ngagagee project’)
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Response to child sexual abuse

From bystanders to allies: a structural feminist perspective for supporting child victims and adult survivors of child rape and torture.
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The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study
CHANGE – curtailing harm and navigating growth: evidence for change pathways of young people who have engaged in harmful sexual behaviour
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The dignity by design project: survivor-led system redesign
Evaluating a harmful sexual behaviour education program in a residential care setting
Community as experts: investigating the context, needs and help-seeking pathways for child sexual abuse survivors and their supporters in the NSW Bega Valley
Developing and implementing a framework for abuse prevention through culture change and organisational development
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Enhancing the capacity of rural and regional respectful relationship educators
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Survivor perspectives on institutional use of child sexual abuse material
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Delivering trauma-informed support for child sexual abuse victims in Victoria: mapping the knowledge gaps and training needs of the specialist sectors
Online child sexual victimisation and associated mental health outcomes
Differentiating adverse childhood experience profiles of male youths who exhibit harmful sexual behaviours

Needs of victims and survivors

From bystanders to allies: a structural feminist perspective for supporting child victims and adult survivors of child rape and torture.
Supporting Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: Rapid Evidence Reviews
Ngagagee Ngulu Murrup Durra (‘The Ngagagee project’)
Evaluation of the Multi-Agency Investigation & Support Team
The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study
An environmental scan of Child Sexual Abuse related workforce training offerings in Australia
Enhancing the capability of Australia’s Primary Health Workforce to respond to child sexual abuse
Improving legal, policy and practice responses to the intersection of domestic violence perpetration and child sexual abuse offending
Understanding the experiences of child sexual abuse disclosure in Australia in the wake of the Royal Commission
Building trauma-responsive sexual health and relationship education
Learning from victims and survivors about what helps disclosure and responses to child sexual abuse
Amplifying the voices of victim-survivors: Advancing the harmful sexual behaviour evidence base – the Ava project
The dignity by design project: survivor-led system redesign
Supporting continuous quality improvement in safeguarding at Hockey Australia and other national sporting organisations
Evaluating a harmful sexual behaviour education program in a residential care setting
Community as experts: investigating the context, needs and help-seeking pathways for child sexual abuse survivors and their supporters in the NSW Bega Valley
Enhancing the capacity of rural and regional respectful relationship educators
Creating safer futures: raising public awareness of child sexual abuse among young adults through digital storytelling
Survivor perspectives on institutional use of child sexual abuse material
The more I talk, the stronger I get: unlocking our past to free our future

Prevention of child sexual abuse

From bystanders to allies: a structural feminist perspective for supporting child victims and adult survivors of child rape and torture.
Preventing child sexual abuse by understanding perpetrators’ motivations
Ngagagee Ngulu Murrup Durra (‘The Ngagagee project’)
Preventing repeat child exploitation material offending: An international evaluation of the CEM-COPE Program
Conceptualising and Estimating the Costs of Child Sexual Exploitation (Phase One of Australian Study into Economic Costs of Child Sexual Exploitation)
The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study
An environmental scan of Child Sexual Abuse related workforce training offerings in Australia
CHANGE – curtailing harm and navigating growth: evidence for change pathways of young people who have engaged in harmful sexual behaviour
Evaluating a harmful sexual behaviour education program in a residential care setting
Developing and implementing a framework for abuse prevention through culture change and organisational development
Building a knowledge frame for responding to the needs of children and young people who have engaged in harmful sexual behaviour
Australian Child Maltreatment Study
Strengthening relationships and connections for young people in therapeutic residential care
Differentiating adverse childhood experience profiles of male youths who exhibit harmful sexual behaviours

Identification of child sexual abuse

From bystanders to allies: a structural feminist perspective for supporting child victims and adult survivors of child rape and torture.
The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study
An environmental scan of Child Sexual Abuse related workforce training offerings in Australia
Enhancing the capability of Australia’s Primary Health Workforce to respond to child sexual abuse
Supporting continuous quality improvement in safeguarding at Hockey Australia and other national sporting organisations
Evaluating a harmful sexual behaviour education program in a residential care setting
Developing and implementing a framework for abuse prevention through culture change and organisational development
Children and Young People’s Safety Project
The safeguarding capability of adults in Catholic Church ministries: a global perspective

Disclosure of child sexual abuse

Ngagagee Ngulu Murrup Durra (‘The Ngagagee project’)
The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study
An environmental scan of Child Sexual Abuse related workforce training offerings in Australia
Enhancing the capability of Australia’s Primary Health Workforce to respond to child sexual abuse
Improving legal, policy and practice responses to the intersection of domestic violence perpetration and child sexual abuse offending
Understanding the experiences of child sexual abuse disclosure in Australia in the wake of the Royal Commission
Learning from victims and survivors about what helps disclosure and responses to child sexual abuse
Supporting continuous quality improvement in safeguarding at Hockey Australia and other national sporting organisations
Community as experts: investigating the context, needs and help-seeking pathways for child sexual abuse survivors and their supporters in the NSW Bega Valley