With the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse

About the session:

Understandably, when we think about sexual abuse, we often think about the impact of the abuse on the individual child. However, it is important to remember that sexual abuse of a child affects the whole family and for parents and carers they are likely to feel overwhelmed by shock, anger, confusion and disbelief.

By supporting parents and carers professionals are not only helping the whole family recover, but also increasing the likelihood of the best possible outcome for the child. In fact, parents and carers have a significant influence on how a child will understand and respond to what has happened to them.

In this engaging session, Anna will take members through the CSA Centre’s new Supporting Parents and Carers Guide designed to help professionals understand more about how child sexual abuse affects parents and their children, so that they can support them effectively. She will expand on why this guide was needed and created, the importance of supporting parents and carers and the impact this can have on a child’s recovery.

The guide brings together research, good practice guidance and expert input from professionals and parents and can be downloaded here: https://www.csacentre.org.uk/knowledge-in-practice/practice-improvement/supporting-parents-and-carers-guide/

Speaker: Anna Glinksi, Deputy Director, Knowledge and Practice Development

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 (CSA Centre)

The 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