The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will host a public roundtable on 15 June to discuss responses to child sexual abuse when there is a multi-disciplinary approach from police and other agencies.
 
Royal Commission Chief Executive Officer Philip Reed said this roundtable was a part of the Royal Commission’s examination of the criminal justice system in relation to child sexual abuse in institutions.
 
“This roundtable follows a public hearing in March into criminal justice issues, as well as a series of public roundtables in April which discussed adult sex offender treatment programs and how offences are reported,” Mr Reed said.
 
During 2013’s Case Study 2: YMCA NSW’s response to the conduct of Jonathan Lord, the Royal Commission undertook to consider the role of New South Wales Joint Investigation Response Team (JIRT) in a public forum.
 
“The roundtable will consider the nature and effectiveness of multi-disciplinary and specialist police responses, as well as their interactions with institutions, parents and the community when allegations of child sexual abuse are made,” Mr Reed said.
 
“The discussion will focus on circumstances where the allegations of institutional child sexual abuse are current when being dealt with by the multi-disciplinary unit, and where the alleged perpetrator is or has recently been working or volunteering at the institution.
 
“In March 2016, the Royal Commission published a literature review on the efficacy of specialist police investigative units which raised a number of issues relevant to specialist and multi-disciplinary policing responses in NSW and other jurisdictions,” Mr Reed said.
 
The focus of the roundtable has been expanded to include jurisdictions outside of NSW, including;

• Victoria’s Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team Multi-Disciplinary Centre (SOCIT-MDC)
• Queensland’s Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Team
• Western Australia’s Child Assessment and Interview Team and Child Advocacy Centre (CAIT/CAC)

The public roundtables will be streamed live via webcast.