You are not Alone. Now is the time for Child Sexual Abuse Survivors to come forward
Most, if not all, victims of childhood abuse find it extremely difficult to come forward and talk about being sexually abused as a child.
This can be the case for a vast array of reasons, many feel that they will be judged for what happened to them, blamed for being somehow at fault, called a liar or that they won’t be treated the same as they were before the disclosure. Many feel as though they can deal with the issues on their own and that they don’t want to burden their friends and families.
However, the current climate in Australia makes now the best time for a survivor of child sexual abuse to come forward and discuss what happened. This is because over time, and with more and more brave survivors coming forward, particularly at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission), we have found that our society is extremely supportive of victims of abuse, and there are various support networks available to assist survivors.
The Royal Commission, established in 2013, has since its inception received over 28,000 telephone calls and had over 4,000 private sessions with survivors of child sexual abuse. The importance of these numbers is that victims should never feel that they are alone. While these numbers are huge, they are still only a portion of child sexual abuse victims. These figures are encouraging they demonstrate to other victims that they can now come forward and know they will not be alone, there are other survivors in very similar circumstances.
Tim Minchin recently published a song titled ‘Come Home (Cardinal Pell)’, which is a song directed at Cardinal George Pell regarding responding to complaints raised at the Royal Commission, of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. This song has attracted over a million YouTube views in less than a month, has received nationwide attention, and has been discussed on national news and radio. This is a perfect example of the Australian community showing support to victims of child sexual abuse, and that survivors should never feel shame, fear, guilt or humiliation for something which was forced upon them and should never, ever have happened.
As a nation we stand as one to support sexual abuse survivors and this support is growing each day as the full toll of this long held secret of institutional abuse continues to come out.
Victims deserve to have the trauma they have experienced recognised and for the damage they have suffered to be considered and acknowledged by both the institution and the perpetrator(s). There are many ways that survivors can achieve this such as pursuing criminal charges, making a victims compensation claim, complaining to the institutions redress scheme (if there is one in place), suing the institution/and/or perpetrator for all past and future losses, applying to the National Sexual abuse Redress Scheme (to be implemented in all states by 2017). Every survivor has different needs and no one avenue is suitable for every survivor.
A good starting point for survivors of child sexual abuse is the organisation Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA), you can find their current newsletter at the below link:
The team at Koffels represent victims of child sexual abuse and have connections with services that can provide support to victims and their families. If you feel like you would benefit from having a confidential and obligation-free discussion you can contact us at Koffels. www.koffels.com.au
William Yeo – Solicitor