08/10/2026
This afternoon Wildflowers Youth Founder Bethany attended an interesting webinar: ‘The Role of Allyship in Child Sexual Abuse Prevention’ hosted by the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.
These were some notes I took during the presentation:
- Research shows that children often reach out for help from the adults around them and their responses can minimise, deny or normalise what is happening.
- Adult responses to disclosures are impacted by social contexts such as patriarchal norms, beliefs that children lie and the ‘ick factor’.
- Primary prevention strategies include Working with Children Checks, mandatory reporting and Stop it Now helpline.
- Therapy is only one part of a long term healing journey.
- Allyship must include reporting and supporting children who make disclosures.
- Research shows many community members don’t know how to report or support children who make disclosures, including professionals working with children.
- “Children have the quietest voice and the least amount of power in the situation”. Community members have the ability to stand with and advocate for children.
- “Making child safety everyone’s business“.
- Professionals and volunteers need ongoing training and confidence talking about and responding to child sexual abuse.
- We must challenge concerning behaviour and attitudes by asking questions.
- It is important to teach children about body safety, consent and autonomy.
- Children need reassurance that abuse is not their fault and help to make sense of what’s happened to them.