More than 1000 allegations of child abuse in Victoria in one year

MORE than one thousand allegations of child abuse have been received by hundreds of Victorian organisations, including holiday camps, hospitals and private schools.

More than one thousand allegations of child abuse have been received by hundreds of Victorian organisations, including holiday camps, hospitals and private schools.

MORE than one thousand allegations of child abuse have been received by hundreds of Victorian organisations, including holiday camps, hospitals and private schools.

A new scheme requiring such bodies to report allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children to the Commission for Children and Young People shows 851 mandatory notifications of alleged abuse have been made in the past year. This covers 1328 individual allegations covering 765 victims with an average age of 11.

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Since the inception of the Reportable Conduct Scheme in July 2017, only 170 notifications involving 261 allegations have been finalised and only 10 have led to pending criminal charges.

Principal Commissioner Liana Buchanan said such organisations had “variable responses” to allegations, with some tending to believe adults over children. She also noted a “reluctance to believe complaints made by children viewed as ‘difficult’ or ‘troubled’”.

The scheme is designed to provide a central oversight into the way organisations respond to allegations of child abuse and misconduct involving children.

The commission’s annual report shows just over half of the victims were male.

Girls were more likely than boys to be the victim of physical violence allegations (56 per cent to 36 per cent), but boys were more likely to be the victim of sexual misconduct claims than girls (49 per cent versus 26 per cent).

The data also shows 54 per cent of the alleged perpetrators of abuse are male. Males are more likely than females to be accused of sexual abuse (39 per cent versus 14 per cent) but females are more likely to be accused of physical violence and neglect.

Around three quarters of notifications came from the education and out-of-home care sectors.

Nearly half of the notifications relate to physical violence, 17 per cent to sexual misconduct, 17 per cent to psychological or emotional harm and ten per cent neglect.

Of these, nearly one in three were found to be substantiated and only five per cent unfounded. The rest were unsubstantiated due to lack of evidence or were outside the scope of the scheme.

Ms Buchanan said some organisations and sectors “have been slower to act on their obligations”.

“These issues confirm the value of the Reportable Conduct Scheme and the need for the Commission to work constructively and closely with organisations to ensure suspected or alleged harm to children in properly addressed,” she said.

From 2019 the scheme will be extended further to include early years providers such as kindergartens, as well as museums, zoos, parks and gardens, taking its coverage to more than 10,000 organisations.

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Originally published as More than 1000 allegations of child abuse in Victoria in one year