The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has released a consultation paper on best practices in responding to complaints of child sexual abuse in institutions.
Royal Commission Chief Executive Officer Philip Reed said the Commission’s terms of reference require it to look at identification, reporting and investigating allegations of child sexual abuse in institutions.
“A theme identified from our 4,874 private sessions and 38 case studies to date is that there have been institutional failings when responding to complaints of child sexual abuse,” Mr Reed said.
“The Royal Commission is keen to ensure that all complaints of child sexual abuse in institutions are dealt with in an appropriate, timely and responsible manner no matter what the scenario or institution,” he said.
Mr Reed said that child sexual abuse should never happen, however, when it does it should be dealt with in a manner that protects the child, provides justice to the victim and holds perpetrators to account.
The consultation paper is seeking submissions on the best-practice principles, matters that should be canvassed in a model complaint handling policy and how these matters might be addressed.
The consultation paper is available here.
All interested parties are encouraged to make written submissions responding to the paper. Written submissions should be made by Tuesday, 26 April 2016 and can be submitted in the following ways:
Submissions can be anonymous.
Feedback on the issues outlined in the consultation paper will help inform recommendations the Royal Commission may make in order to better protect children in an institutional context from child sexual abuse.