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Blog: What is contextual prevention of child abuse?

In September, the Queensland Government passed the long-awaited Child Safe Organisations Act 2024, committing the government and community organisations to the 10 National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and a reportable conduct scheme. Contextual prevention is a cornerstone of this policy change.

The Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit (SVRPU) have developed extensive evidence-based knowledge and practice related to contextual prevention, and have regularly presented on this topic to the Quality Collaboration Network (QCN). Over the next few weeks, we will be exploring the concepts, processes and tools from the SVRPU’s most recent presentation to help your organisation implement strategies to protect children. Contextual prevention is a relatively new approach and you might be wondering what it is, so let’s start there.

Contextual prevention basics

Many of us are familiar with individual prevention (strategies to make particular children safer). Contextual prevention doesn’t replace individual prevention, but sits alongside it to make places safer for all the children. For example, foster children and young people in group homes, childcare attendees and school students, those attending community and health services, or simply children in public spaces. To effectively address risks in a given context, there are several things we need to do (Rayment-McHugh et al., 2024).

Understand behaviour in its context. Risks to children are influenced by social norms and values, legislation and public policy, physical environments and the relationships and interactions among children and between children and adults – that is, risks to children occur in context. To explore a particular context, we ask questions like,

• How could particular norms, laws or policies either allow or discourage child sexual abuse (CSA)?
• How might everyday routine activities provide opportunities for CSA?
• What situational cues could impact behaviour here?
• What barriers to guardianship are present? (Guardianship is the activity of people in the environment to protect children from CSA.)

Understand the components. There are four critical components that comprise a contextual prevention approach.

• Social determinants are those features of the sociocultural environment that can encourage or support CSA. For example, we know that CSA occurs more frequently in situations of overcrowding, so it will be important to reduce overcrowding in order to prevent CSA (Morley & Higgins, 2018).
• A variety of regulatory controls, such as policies and the agencies that promote child protection and address abuse when it occurs, can be strengthened; the new Child Safe Organisations Act is an example of a regulatory control (Rayment-McHugh et al., 2024).
• Environmental design can either support or reduce opportunities for CSA; think about a space where children gather or where a child might meet with an adult – if the space is obscured, CSA is more likely, while having clear lines of sight and good lighting will discourage CSA (Wortley & Smallbone, 2006).
• Finally, situational crime prevention refers to altering physical or social aspects of a given situation that enable or facilitate abuse. It proposes 25 prevention techniques aimed at increasing the effort required to commit CSA, increasing the risk of detection, reducing rewards, reducing provocations and removing excuses (Cornish & Clarke, 2003).

Assess for prevention and/or intervention. Assessment tools, such as mapping spaces and auditing routine activities, help organisations to assess risks unique to their operational spaces. The outcomes of assessments can be used to inform strategies that prevent CSA and provide appropriate responses if occurs .

Moving forward

Keep an eye out for more information here, including case studies exploring how particular contexts are assessed the strategies implemented. If the National Principles for CSOs are new to you, you can see a quick introduction from the Australian Human Rights Commission. For more on the SVRPU’s work on contextual prevention you can watch their recent presentation to the QCN, read their recent article Context matters: Conceptualising and operationalising the contextual prevention of child sexual abuse and use their practical guide Contextual Prevention Going beyond individual prevention.

QCOSS is grateful to the University of the Sunshine Coast SVRPU’s Associate Professor Nadine McKillop and Dr Susan Rayment-McHugh for their work and for their generosity in sharing groundbreaking research and implementation strategies with the Quality Collaboration Network (QCN). The QCN is a peer support network for community sector professionals with responsibilities for quality, governance and compliance. You can join the QCN and sign up for our governance newsletter On Board, here.