Professor Daryl Higgins

1. Inclusive, child-safe child-centred practices in child welfare and other youth-serving organisations Melbourne Campus, L5, 215 SpringSt Melbourne, Victoria T +61 (0)3 9953 3607  M 0425 795 303 Edaryl.higgins@acu.edu.auW www.acu.edu.au/icps Professor Daryl Higgins ACT Senior Practitioner Community of Practice Forum 8 February 2019 Institute of Child Protection Studies

2. Contents To cover: rationale for child-centred, child-safe organisational practices strategies for addressing culture-change adult capabilities needed for implementing child-safe strategies and responding to the Child Safe Standards recommended by the Royal Commission. See: • https://www.humanrights.gov.au/national-principles-child-safe-organisations child-centred practice skills needed to give effect to the draft national principle relating to participation of children and young people: • “Children and young people are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.”

3. Prevention Prevention – based on knowledge of causes and contributing factors Child Sexual Abuse occurs at the intersection of: • Motivation (of a potential offender) • Vulnerability (of a potential victim) • Opportunity Prevention means addressing the preconditions that facilitate abuse at each of these levels. Create and support conditions of safety within families, organisations and communities.

4. Environmental factors Risks, enablers and protective factors What do we know about organisational contexts? How do organizational environments facilitate—or impede—opportunity to abuse? Are all organisations equal? To supplement research about victim- and perpetrator-factors, we need to explore what it is about different organisational settings that might increase or decrease the risks. Can organisations change, and increase conditions of safety for children?

5. Shifting the paradigm Preventing ‘bad’ people isn’t enough Sexual abuse prevention strategies in organisations have focused on screening to identify those with a history of child sexual abuse.However: First-time abusers have no offence history Much abuse goes undetected or reported, so won’t be detected in screening Young people also engage in sexually abusive behaviours (around 30–60% of incidents relate to peers) Focusing on the individual ignores the “power of the situation” to influence individual behaviour, and the capacity of systemic approaches to prevention Boyd 2008; Pratt & Miller, 2012 https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/2016/06/22/public-health-approach-preventing-child-maltreatment

6. Box Office lessons: The power of the situation

7. Box Office lessons on Social Psychology Social Psychology knowledge from the 1970s explored on the big screen. Demonstrates the “power of the situation” to influence individual behaviourImplications for child-safety in organisations: • We have failed—and will continue to fail—if we try and focus solely on identifying, weeding out, or preventing ‘bad people’ from joining organisations. What is the role of school psychologists and counsellors? Given the ‘power of the situation’, how can we use our leadership roles to shape the situational context, and move towards conditions of safety? https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/2016/06/22/public-health-approach-preventing-child-maltreatment

8. Key risks in child-related organisations Grooming – the process prior to the act of abuse – relies upon relationship and trust-building between the victim, the perpetrator, and the institutional community. The modus operandi of perpetrators may differ between institutional contexts, as different settings allow for different opportunities for, and facilitators of, abuse. New technology, mobile phones, and social media open up new avenues for communication, and therefore grooming, for potential abusers. Climate, culture and norms in organisations can facilitate abuse: • “Just as children are 'groomed' by adults to allow them to perpetrate sexual acts, other adults are also 'groomed' (or desensitised) to perceive potentially risky behaviour as harmless.” (van Dam, 2001) https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/2016/06/22/public-health-approach-preventing-child-maltreatment

9. 1 Screening for known perpetrators2 Managing situational risks3 Creating positive cultures OVERVIEW: 3 elements of child-safe environments

10. 1 Screening for known perpetrators

11. Pre-employment screening Having pre-employment vetting is the first chapter in the book, not the final chapter! Understanding differences between a police check and a Working With Children Check: • More extensive, but also more targeted • See Pre-employment screening: Working With Children Checks and Police Checks<aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/pre-employment-screening-working-children-checks-and-police-checks> Understanding your obligations – in many jurisdictions, employers are prohibited from employing someone in a child-related occupation who does not have a Working With Children Check. Recognising the limitations of pre-employment screening – most child sex offenders do not have criminal records. Screening for known perpetrators

12. 2 Managing situational risks

13. Situational crime prevention A situational crime prevention framework can: Provide a lens for understanding how child victimisation occurs in institutions Serve as a foundation for development of effective prevention strategies in different contexts through: • Development of policies to address risks • Monitoring and ongoing actions. Managing situational risks

14. Situational crime prevention Address the limits of both pre-employment and ongoing screening/suitability assessments Focus on creating safe environments rather than safe individuals Have been successfully applied to reducing a range of criminal behaviours Underlying premise: Under the right circumstances, anyone could offend Key focus is on opportunity reduction: Making crime more risky Making crime more effortful Reducing rewards Removing excuses Preventing—and not tolerating—potential ‘grooming’ behaviour Managing situational risks

15. Not all organisations are equal Different organisations will have a different risk profile and present different opportunities for grooming behaviour to occur or go undetected Family-like environments carry the highest risk: Staff required to act in loco parentis Physical contact, showering, changing clothes (e.g. sports) Sleep-overs/camps Transport (at odd hours) Managing situational risks

16. Don’t lose sight of the big picture: It is not only about ‘risk’… What are the opportunities for building resilience? How can staff act as a support for young people who might be vulnerable to, or who have actually experienced maltreatment in the home or elsewhere? Sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, or exposure to family violence Some possible protective factors or supports: Being a positive role model (safe; boundaries) Encouraging and responding appropriately to abuse occurring elsewhere Fostering inclusion and peer support Managing situational risks

17. Not all organisations are equal (cont’d) Leaders need to drive a process for risk-analysis of organisational activities that focus on issues such as: Level of observation/supervision of adult-child interactions Use of adults as role-models or mentors Use of social media or other potentially private communication avenues A culture where abuse might be tolerated (e.g. gender stereotypes, homophobia, alcohol) Managing situational risks

18. Applying the Situational Prevention Model Based on Kaufman et al. (2010) Steps to reducing risks: Conduct Initial Risk Assessment Confirm key risks with stakeholders (leaders, workers, parents, and particularly children & young people themselves) – including. frequency/severity Link risks to risk-reduction and prevention strategies Prioritise risks Implement proposed risk-reduction and prevention strategies Ongoing monitoring

19. 3 Creating positive organisational cultures

20. Strategies for creating child-safe organisations Examples: Values-based interviewing Create induction programs – where acceptable behaviour is defined Reinforce with ongoing professional development Implement supervision, mentoring and accountability for staff Understanding and comply with mandatory reporting obligations Analysis of—and implementation of strategies to address—risks across the organisation (situational prevention) Ask for, and respond to, the views of children and young people about safety within the organisation Develop (regularly review and update) child abuse policies, procedures, and standards Creating positive organisational cultures

21. Key safeguarding strategies for young people Promote respectful relationships Create physically safe environments Adopt child-centred practice • Child-centred practice is often compromised by the contexts, organisational cultures and commitments of leadership and peers • Children rarely have opportunities to inform or provide feedback on their practice Create emotionally safe environments that: • Facilitate disclosures • Respond appropriately to disclosures • Provide a supportive/therapeutic context for victim/survivors Creating positive organisational cultures

22. Facilitating disclosure Disclosure could relate to experiencing a variety of abusive behaviours, not just sexual abuse: Physical sexual assault, unwanted requests, as well as a range of online offences or using digital media (including images, ‘sexting’, bullying, etc.) Organisational cultures might allow for a variety of forms of bullying, harassment and intimidation to occur, which in turn can increase a child’s vulnerability to sexual abuse though feeling ‘different' (e.g., homophobia; sexism, or more subtle forms of gender stereotypes of masculinity/femininity, etc.), or because of the use of alcohol or other substances (Higgins, 2013). Creating positive organisational cultures

23. Whole-of-organisation approaches are enhanced by: Agreed definitions of child sexual abuse Statement about the consequences of offending Clear, published policies and procedures that are victim-centred (with regular training, review, monitoring and evaluation) Prevention education programs for young people, adult workers/volunteers, and families Education on the long-term impacts of sexual assault Creating positive organisational cultures National Safe Schools Framework (2011) “Promoting and providing a supportive learning environment in which all students can expect to feel safe”. See: www.mceetya.edu.au/verve/_resources/natsafeschools_file.pdf

24. Protective participation Children and young people value being helped to better understand risks and to make better judgements on when to trust and when to be wary. Because children and young people understand and experience safety differently from adults, adults and organisations need to understand what safety means to kids and act to respond to their fears. Children and young people want organisations to provide safe physical environments: places that are bright and cheerful, where kids are able to move around, to play and to "hang out" with friends and people they trust. Including children in the development of strategies and responses for their own safety results in a greater likelihood that children will utilise and feel positive about them. Moore, 2017. https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/protection-through-participation

25. Protective participation (cont’d) For children's participation to be successful it needs to be supported by the whole organisation, and dialogue about safety needs to be ongoing and built into as many interactions between adults and children as possible. Children and young adults need adults and peers they can trust, and these adults must be accessible, physically present and available when needed. Raising concerns with an adult can be difficult, potentially embarrassing, shameful or uncomfortable. Adults need to respond respectfully to concerns and in ways that allay children's fears and discomfort. Moore, 2017. https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/protection-through-participation

26. Child-safe strategies need to be more than compliance-oriented They need to be informed by, respond to, and empower children and young people (who are the key beneficiaries of investments) They need to be aware of the potential for – and reduce the likelihood of – unintended consequences They need to be regularly evaluated and adjusted They need to complement and be integrated into other institutional policies and initiatives They can be enhanced through partnerships

27. To embed safeguarding, consider promotion of: Awareness of the causes of institutional child sexual abuse and organisational risk factors specific to different contexts Skills in how to provide child-centred responses to disclosures Policies that address acceptable behaviour; professional development, supervision, mentoring and accountability Strategies to address risks, based on the situational prevention model – including awareness of boundary violations Strategies to overcome difficulties adults face in speaking up about concerns and breaches of policy; skills and strategies to break down barriers Skills for adults to ask for—and respond to—the views of children and young people about safety within organisations Culture change through leadership, governance, and practice Sexual education & sexual abuse prevention education for children and young people Effective pre-employment strategies such as values-based interviewing Summary

28. Staff capability to address concerning sexualized behaviours of young people with disability (CSBs) Data from a study conducted in Victoria (Page & Higgins) Small-scale study of staff working in special education settings Most had the knowledge to distinguish between appropriate & inappropriate sexual behaviours Most agreed that young people with a disability display concerning sexualized behaviours because they don’t know the rules and conventions of normal sexual behaviours; and that girls with disability display CSB for much of the same reasons as boys with disability. Most identified they were comfortable discussing concepts such as acceptable touch and the inappropriate nature of public masturbation with students, and had effective strategies for educating students about CSBs. Over 20% had never undertaken training directly relating to child sexual abuse prevention and/or CSBs. Despite many of the participants reporting a) comfort in distinguishing between appropriate and inappropriate displays and b) comfort in responding, there was a consistent expressed need for further training including training specific to responding in regards to students with a disability. Participants highlighted they were not afraid of intervening though had a tendency to reflect on the complexities and array of considerations required in decisions.

29. Child-safe…. And child-centred Two complementary but distinct elements to safeguarding: Child-safe organisations - embrace policies and practices committed to supporting and enabling the safety of children and young people Child-centred practice – covers the range of activities adopted by workers to ensure that children of adults with multiple and complex needs receive appropriate support Why is it important: Inquiries revealed the reality that children and young people have experience harm in institutions charged with their care Organisations to place children’s safety and wellbeing at their core

30. Key questions when thinking about change Understanding the problems (what are the known risk factors; where do they relate to the operation and climate of my organization?) What are the levers for change? What are the obstacles to change? Who are the champions? Who are the blockers, how do I win them over? Who is accountable? How does ‘climate change’ become embedded and normalized?

31. Not all organisations are equal (cont’d) A risk-analysis of organisational activities could focus on: Level of observation/supervision of adult-child interactions Use of adults as role-models or mentors Use of social media or other potentially private communication avenues A culture where abuse, bullying, discrimination or harassment in any of its forms might be tolerated (e.g. gender stereotypes, homophobia, alcohol misuse) Managing situational risks

32. Unintended consequences Don’t lose sight of the big picture: It is not only about ‘risk’… What are the opportunities for building resilience in young people? How can staff act as a support for young people who might be vulnerable to, or who have actually experienced maltreatment in the home or elsewhere? Sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, or exposure to family violence Some possible protective factors or supports that need to be maintained: Being a positive role model (safe; boundaries) Encouraging and responding appropriately to abuse occurring elsewhere Fostering inclusion and peer support Managing situational risks

33. Moving from child-safe compliance to embracing safeguarding climate change REFLECTION Questions: What are the risks of ‘compliance’ without fully understanding the rationale for change? What can we learn from the environmental ‘climate change’ experience? What were the phases/steps, and how far along is the child safeguarding movement? What can we learn from other areas: • Banking Royal Commission • Gender Equality (watch an Episode of ‘Man Men’ if you want a reminder of life as it was) • Occupational Health and Safety What are the key phases or stages of culture change? • Diagnosis (understanding the problems, and what are the key things to change) • Preparation (understanding, and disrupting the old culture) • Implementation/Transformation • Monitoring including a careful watch for unintended consequences • Embedding & Accountability Creating positive organisational cultures

34. Culture change affects the whole of the organisation: Shared understandings of what child sexual abuse is, grooming processes, and risks Statement about the consequences of offending and of breaches of code of conduct Clear, published policies and procedures that are child-centred and victim-centred (with regular training, review, monitoring and evaluation) Prevention education programs for young people, adult workers/volunteers, and families Education on the long-term impacts of child sexual abuse, and other forms of abuse, bulling and harassment Creating positive organisational cultures National Safe Schools Framework (2011) “Promoting and providing a supportive learning environment in which all students can expect to feel safe”. See: www.mceetya.edu.au/verve/_resources/natsafeschools_file.pdf

35. Overview of risk-management strategies Pre-employment screening, values-based interviewing and ongoing suitability assessment Minimising situational risks by limiting opportunities (recognising that any person can perpetrate child abuse, though some people are higher risk) Appropriate, articulated, and supported policies and procedures about: • Identifying signs of abuse (recognise risk factors/vulnerability of some children; grooming behaviours of perpetrators) • Responding to disclosures • Training staff • Providing ongoing support for staff Positive culture (child-friendly; transparent; respectful; based on protective participation of children/young people) Implement specific prevention programs and strategies e.g., respectful relationships; sexual health; child-abuse prevention awareness & skills (“protective behaviours”), etc. Creating positive organisational cultures Irenyi et al., 2006

36. Getting traction on ‘climate’ change …You need a “theory of change” “Theory of Change is essentially a comprehensive description and illustration of how and why a desired change is expected to happen in a particular context. It is focused in particular on mapping out or “filling in” what has been described as the “missing middle” between what a program or change initiative does (its activities or interventions) and how these lead to desired goals being achieved. It does this by first identifying the desired long-term goals and then works back from these to identify all the conditions (outcomes) that must be in place (and how these related to one another causally) for the goals to occur.” Source: http://www.theoryofchange.org/what-is-theory-of-change/

37. Start your journey “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” Lao Tzu – father of Taoism

38. What’s your theory of change? REFLECTION: • Am I clear on my goal? • How will the activities or interventions I plan for my school lead to, or support achievement of these goals? • Who’s accountable? • What strategies do I need for building support from colleagues? • How do we prioritise when it may not be seen as “core business” per se, but a way of doing core business?

39. Institute of Child Protection Studies (ICPS) A nationally recognised centre of research excellence in the field of child, youth and family welfare. Professor Daryl Higgins Director – Institute of Child Protection Studies (ICPS) AustralianCatholicUniversity Melbourne Campus Level 5, 215 SpringSt, Melbourne, Victoria T +61 (0)3 9953 3607  M 0425 795 303 Edaryl.higgins@acu.edu.au Wwww.acu.edu.au/icps

40. 4 Resources

41. ACU Safeguarding Children and Young People portal https://safeguardingchildren.acu.edu.au

42. ACU Child Safeguarding Capability Framework Nature of abuse and risk factors - Understands the nature of sexual abuse and other types of abuse experienced by children and young people and factors that influence the risk of abuse occurring Child-safe organisational cultures and governance - Fosters child-safe organisational cultures and environments through leadership, governance, and practice Risk-management strategies - Develops and implements effective strategies that address risks, based on the situational prevention model, and takes appropriate action when concerns and issues arise Theory of change: Capabilities needed in staff

43. Participation of children and young people - Facilitates children and young people’s engagement in child-centred participatory processes, including those that enable and respond to disclosures and complaints Education and prevention - Applies sex education and sexual abuse prevention models to address the safety needs of children and young people Responsive care and support - Responds appropriately to the ongoing needs of children and young people who have experienced abuse and manages the impact of this abuse on other children and young people, staff, families and the institution/organisation Monitoring and evaluation – Are organisations improving in their journey of creating conditions of safety for children and young people, as a result of implementation of safeguarding strategies? Theory of change: Capabilities needed in staff

44. Children’s Safety Study findings • Being safe and feeling safe are different • Lack of safety can be due to their physical, generational, organizational and political vulnerability • Young people are often skeptical about adults and institutions capacity to keep them safe  varying degrees of help-seeking • Adults need to actively protect children and young people and responds to their issues, and support them to understand and manage safety issues in the context of a supportive relationship. • Therefore, adults need to understand: •  how children conceptualise, experience and deal with safety issues; • the dynamics of sexual abuse and other safety concerns and proactively engage children and young people • A lack of confidence in adults and institutions reduces the likelihood of help-seeking and disclosure: • Institutions that work with children and young people need to find ways to identify those who don’t feel safe and develop strategies to increase their confidence in adults. • There is a need to reconsider the nature and scope of education and information provided to children and young people about abuse and dealing with unsafe adults and peers – and it must be informed by the needs of young people of different ages and genders. ‘It was good that you talked to us about this stuff and let us have a say … We had fun and even though it was like serious for bits it was OK because it’s something we should talk about and think about and it’s good to hear what other people think because we don’t talk about this stuff that much.’ (YP-3) http://www.acu.edu.au/about_acu/faculties,_institutes_and_centres/centres/institute_of_child_protection_studies/our_work/current_previous_work/completed_in_2016/safety_of_children_in_institutions

45. What children and young people say Children’s Safety animation: Residential Care animation: https://safeguardingchildren.acu.edu.au/about_us/for_kids

46. Practice tools https://safeguardingchildren.acu.edu.au/practice_tools To help organisations: reflect on—and enhance—practice identify ways that to prevent harm & respond when children experience abuse promote safety and child safe strategies engage with children and young people empower children & young people.

47. The task of culture change Culture is what people see, do, think, know and feel. To know if culture change regarding conditions of safety is occurring, involves measuring the current climate of organisations. Two key informants for this are: Adults’ attitudes, knowledge, skills, behaviours and behavioural expectations, and self-efficacy (leaders, staff & volunteers) Children/young people’s attitudes, knowledge, behaviours and behavioural expectations, and self-efficacy

48. Self-assessment https://safeguardingchildren.acu.edu.au/self-assessment To help organisations: Access evidence-informed assessment tools that help organisations assess and track change over time. The Australian Safe Kids and Young People Survey (ASK-YP Survey) Assess perceptions of safety of young people aged 10+ Staff attitudes, skills and behaviours(in development) Assess capability of adults to protectively work with children

49. Building Capability – learning opportunities https://safeguardingchildren.acu.edu.au/qualifications_professional_learning Online learning modules Gaining insight Leading child safety Making kids visible Support me to flourish Dealing with the tough stuff Sustaining child safety Available from September 2018 Click here

50. Child-centred practice How has your work reflected the research on being child-centred? Recognisingcritical time frames in childhood and adolescence including assisting children and young people as early as possible –early in life and early in the life of the problem (National Crime Prevention, 1999); Taking into account the developmental needs of children and young people in all interventions Providing children and young people with appropriate opportunities to participate in decisions that affect them Promoting a collaborative approach to influencing children’s multiple environments (family and home, school, community and society) as well as the interactions among these environments.