Information Booklet - Country Fire Authority

What we do know aboutchild abusersThey are as diverse a group as the generalpopulation. They come from all walks of life andsocio-economic groups. They can be male,female, married, single, heterosexual, homosexualor bisexual.They usually commence their abuse in theiradolescence or younger.The majority of physical and sexual abuse happenswithin the family home, or by relatives and closefriends of a family. It is not common for strangers toabuse children.Paedophiles will access children throughorganisations that work with children. Particularlythose organisations that do not have a policy orprocedures in place to protect children.Child sexual abuse does not often occur as a onceoff spur of the moment incident, it is usually the resultof a premeditated grooming procedure.What is Grooming?CFA can do nothing to stop the desire or motivationof a person to sexually abuse a child but it hasput in place measures to make it difficult for thesepeople to have access to our programs and children.Members should not be concerned, or try to spota child abuser. What’s most important is to alwayshave programs supervised by two adults, and in thecase of Juniors, 2 Junior Leaders, and to work withinthe Code of Behaviour for Maintaining aChild Safe Environment.Child sexual abuse is different from other formsof abuse that children may experience in that it isusually premeditated.Offenders will take time to groom their victim.This appears to have two elements:■ Choosing a victim that appeals to the offender.■ Picking someone the offender believes he/shecan safely victimise.Grooming is a well thought out process. It is a dualprocess of building a trusting relationship with thechild and his/her carers, and isolating the child inorder to abuse them.Grooming occurs before the sex offence in order toaccess the child, and after the offence, in order tomaintain access to the child, and ensure the child’ssilence and the carers/adults continued trust.The grooming process can takes weeks, months oryears before the offence occurs.By analysing the RisksWhat types of activities/situations increase thepossibility of abuse?Low/acceptable riskActivities that are considered to be low risk orlimited risk are those which:■ Involve older less dependant and ablebodied children.■ Take place in full view of people inopen environments.■ Have high adult/child ratios.■ Have active parental involvement.■ Do not involve body contact.■ Run shorter sessions.■ Two or more adults supervising groups.■ Training for volunteers concerning child abuseis mandatory.16CFA Children/ Young Persons Protection Policy Information BookletEdition 2 – May 2013