Recent cases involving female educators and carers have understandably shaken people and forced many of us to re-examine assumptions about who we trust with our children.

Not because abuse by a female perpetrator is new - but because when a woman, particularly a trusted adult such as a teacher, har...

After years working as a detective with children who had been abused, I started noticing something. 

It wasn't obvious at first but as time went on, certain conditions became consistently apparent. 

Different families. Different ages. Different settings. Different offenders. 
Some cases were adult-...

Before I became a police officer, I didn’t know much about child sexual abuse. It just wasn’t something people talked about when I was a child growing up or as I became a parent myself.

I joined the WA Police before my daughter had turned 2-years-old and she grew up with me in the blue uniform, hel...

It’s the scenario no one ever wants to imagine—but far too many live through.

You start to notice something off in your child - behaviours that don’t make sense, disclosures that chill you to the bone, a gut instinct that won’t leave you alone. Then it hits you like a freight train: the person harm...

I recently spoke with a mother who reached out to me because her 5-year-old child had disclosed sexual abuse - not from an adult, but from another 5-year-old child.

Let’s just pause there.

Because this is the part no one warns you about.

No one tells you what to do when the harm doesn't come from...

I remember when I was returning to work after my daughter was born and the emotional roller coaster I went through in finding an early childhood centre. I had so much mum-guilt in needing to put her into childcare that I cried for days.

At that stage, I was not even a police officer, I was just nee...

Have you ever replayed a moment where you wish you had spoken up and said something but at the time you didn’t know what to say or you were too shocked to say something?

It’s not easy to call out inappropriate behaviours, especially when it comes to other adults or family members, but when it comes...

I grew up in a blended family. My parents separated when I was a young child and I grew up with step-parents.

With that being said, there was a lot less blended families when I was growing up than there is now. Blended families are a much more normal family structure than when I was younger and the...

A child that does NOT feel safe will not disclose abuse.

At times I think we forget this FACT in our goals to protect and help kids. 

As a specialist child interviewer, I was very aware that the time and process prior to the child's interview was equally, if not more important than the actual inte...

School Camps can be both amazingly exciting and nerve wracking in equal measure.

For some kids, camp will be an amazing opportunity to spread their wings, find new talents and spend hours upon hours with their friends.

For other children, it can be anxiety inducing, scary and lonely mixed in with ...

Parent Question - Hi there, my wife and I are looking for some guidance in relation to supporting our two young children from potential adverse consequences from sharing their photos online.

We are stuck as to what is appropriate when there is no general rules for whether it's safe to share their ph...

Thought I'd jump in with my own thoughts on what's 'IN & OUT' in parenting in 2024.

This requires us to be brave and boldly face the problem. ...