Understanding Child Sexual Abusers 23/24

TARGET GROUP

This training is targeted at professionals in direct contact with children who undertake or contribute to risk assessments and multi-agency meetings including social workers, family support workers, foster carers, health professionals, schools, police and others who work with children at risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation.    

Group Level 2 (regular contact with children, young people and/or parent/carer) or Level 3 (predominantly working with children) or above (including strategic leads), and NHS Inter-Collegiate Standards 2 and above for health professionals. 

AIM

The training aims to raise awareness about the risks that child sexual abusers pose to children and when to refer concerns for a risk assessment. The focus is on recognising signs, patterns and behaviour that cause concerns and referral pathways to children’s social care.

The training is provided by Lucy Faithful, a child protection charity dedicated solely to preventing child sexual abuse to ensure children are as safe as they can be. They have extensive experience of working with entire families who have been affected by sexual abuse, including young people with inappropriate sexual behaviours (male and female); victims of abuse and other family members. They also run the confidential Stop it Now! Helpline.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By attending this course, participants will have:
- Increased their knowledge and understanding about the different types of adult sex offenders and their different patterns of offending, including those who groom and abuse online
- Developed an understanding about models currently used to understand sexually abusive behaviour
- Developed the ability to recognise signs of concerns and when to refer concerns for a risk assessment
- Examined the interaction between a sex offender and the strategies they use to groom and target victims and their families
- Improved their understanding about the impact of offender attitudes and beliefs, as well as behaviour, on the children and young people they abuse.