Recognising and responding to Child Sexual Abuse

Course Aim:

To provide participants with research and practice-based information that will enable them to effectively identify and manage cases of likely or actual sexual abuse of children and young people.

Course outcomes: 

Participants will be offered the opportunity to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of how sexual abuse of children is viewed by society and within a familial context
• Recognise and assess the impact of sexual abuse on children’s welfare, development and behaviour and how trauma can manifest itself
• Understand the short and long term impact of sexual abuse on children’s wellbeing and development
• Describe the signs and indicators of children who may be suffering sexual abuse
• Utilise research to understand more about theoretical models of offender behaviours
• Recognising the difficulties for children in disclosing that sexual abuse had taken place
• Know how to respond when such disclosures are made
• Understand individual and agency responsibilities in responding to known or suspected sexual abuse of children
• Assess risk within a multi-agency context, understanding how sexual abuse and neglect impact on children becoming vulnerable to Child Sexual Exploitation and Child Criminal Exploitation
• Understand how current criminal and safeguarding systems impact on our ability to protect children from sexual abuse
• Reference local and national data relating to child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation.