About the session

This ‘lunch and learn’ will explore:

• • What evidence tells us about children/young people’s disclosures
  • The barriers and enablers to children telling
  • How children/young people may show they are experiencing harm

• The CSA Centre’s new practice resource: the Signs and Indicators template

• Building a picture of our concerns:

• • Identifying emotional, behavioural and physical signs of abuse in children
  • Identifying signs and indicators of abusive behaviour
  • Considering factors within the child’s environment
  • How to use this in practice
• The professional role in identifying and responding to concerns of child sexual abuse

Speaker:

Anna leads the practice and training arm of the CSA Centre. She is a qualified social worker who has worked within statutory frontline child protection and specialist services, including as an expert witness in the family courts on child sexual abuse cases and as the practice development lead for child sexual abuse within a local authority. Within this role she led a multi- disciplinary specialist sexual abuse team, which provided assessments, interventions, supervision, consultation and training. Anna is an Associate Tutor at the University of Sussex and is currently the Editor of NOTA News, the quarterly magazine for members of the National Organisation for the Treatment of Abuse.

The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse:

The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) was first established in 2017. They are a multi-disciplinary team, that is funded by the Home Office, housed by Barnardo’s, and that works closely with key partners from academic institutions, local authorities, health, education, police and the voluntary sector. The aim of the CSA Centre is to reduce the impact of child sexual abuse through improved prevention and better response. They believe that to tackle child sexual abuse we need to better understand its causes, scope, scale and impact.

They bring about change by:

• Collating and analysing existing research, policy, practice and the real experiences of those affected
• Filling in the gaps identified through new research, insights and analysis
• Using evidence and insights to develop new approaches and apply learning and improved knowledge in practice and through training