AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net
Most people who report or seek help with the effects of, child sexual abuse take many years to reach that point. It is a very painful, difficult process and the outcomes can depend a lot on just who is first contacted.
Many will not want to approach police first, largely due to authority figure concerns, or a lack of trust in officialdom. Despite the fact that people involved in hearing concerns have, in recent times, become more aware of the difficulties associated with reporting abuse, many will still not like this way of approaching justice and help. This is fair enough, so alternatives need to be available.
This posting is not so much about whom to approach, as much as whom NOT to approach. There are enough people who have had a very bad experience from contacting bodies set up by their abuser’s organisation for others to be particularly wary of contacting these bodies first, if at all.
Many of these bodies, such as the infamous “Melbourne Response,” have been more concerned with controlling victims, rather than in helping them in any way. Ditto goes for the “counseling services” they operate and recommend. Indeed, the author heard of a case where a victim went to a counseling centre, and there saw his abuser hanging around it.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.