NSW Health is supporting NSW Government to develop a framework for the prevention and response to children and young people with problematic and harmful sexual behaviours. This work is in response to recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and NSW Ombudsman in their report of the then Joint Investigation Response Team Program.
In July 2019, NSW Government agency partners met to begin preliminary work on the framework. At the workshop, agencies reflected on the NSW context for responding to problematic and harmful sexual behaviours and drew on international expertise to learn about other multiagency responses. The workshop included a keynote presentation from Professor Simon Hackett, an expert in this field, who shared his learnings from the UK approach. Using this knowledge, agencies engaged in valuable discussions and agreed on a draft vision and purpose of the framework. They also agreed on several key next steps to progress the framework, including development of a concept plan and a case for change. NSW Health have since established governance groups for the Framework, finalised the concept plan and work on the case for change and other key projects are underway.
The workshop was facilitated by Nous Group who have prepared a summary report to reflect the presentations and discussions of the day.
