A research released in the sidelines of Child Protection week (01/09-07/09) reveals that about a quarter of child sexual abuse cases actually involve one child abusing another.
The new research released reveals that sexual abuse between children goes largely undetected.
According to this study three Australians out of four blame online content for causing problematic sexual behaviour in children and, two thirds of parents fail to secure their devices whereas one in two parents allow their children unsupervised online access.
In our interview Dr Katrina Lines, Executive director of Services with Act for Kids reiterated the key message for Child Protection Week urging parents to take necessary steps to protect their children online.
Though online activity is a major factor it is not the only one. “It is a complex issue; kids might have been sexually abused themselves; they might be living in a family violence or domestic violence context,” Dr Lines says.
Parents are advised to look for problematic sexual behaviours like unwanted touching from one child to another, socially unacceptable behaviours in public, etc.
