Informing the design and delivery of a national offender prevention service

The National Office for Child Safety will establish a national prevention service for adults who have sexual thoughts about children or young people, following the success of similar services internationally.

The service is likely to involve online functions and a helpline to intervene with adults prior to their first offence. This includes identifying immediate child protection concerns, making potential offenders aware of the consequences of their potential actions and discussing abuse prevention. The overall aim of the service is to protect children by intervening before potential perpetrators offend.

The National Office is seeking information from the community to help inform the design and delivery of this service, which is part of the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse.

The consultations will focus on:

• general service needs of and service barriers experienced by key groups
• best practice approaches for accessible, trauma-informed and culturally safe general service delivery
• community expectations regarding the service, and potential referral pathways (including for different key groups)
• the service’s engagement with enforcement agencies.

The National Office is inviting expressions of interest from priority groups: victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; culturally and linguistically diverse communities; people with disability and their advocates; and LGBTQIA+ communities.

The National Office is also interested in hearing from:

• providers of behaviour change services, mental health services, sexual violence-related services, or other services concerning sensitive or relevant matters those who have used behaviour change services, mental health services, sexual violence‑related services, or other services concerning sensitive or relevant matters those who otherwise have relevant input to provide on service design and delivery other experts or stakeholders (e.g. peak bodies or academics).

To express your interest in participating in the consultation process, please contact us. Expressions of interest will close at 5:00pm AEST on Tuesday 19 July 2022.