The Sexual Assault Support Service (SASS) is delighted to hear of the Tasmanian Labor Party’s pre-election commitment to support a program to address problem sexualised behaviours in young people aged 12-17 years.
Adolescents with problem sexualised behaviours are a uniquely vulnerable group of young people, with the majority having themselves experienced child sexual assault and family violence. Currently in Tasmania there is no support for a public program to work with these adolescents and their families. This directly jeopardises the safety of other children, and has a huge impact on families, child safety services, schools and other services who are left with the fallout of trying to manage these behaviours.
Expert professional support for the adolescent and their family is critical not only in helping to turn the young person’s life around, but also to prevent further sexual offending and risk to the community. We know that the earlier an adolescent gets support to manage their behaviour, the higher the chance of their being able to make positive behavioural change and to keep out of the criminal justice system.
SASS has advocated for a funded behavioural change program for many years. We therefore strongly support Labor’s announcement, and look forward to seeing progress on this critical issue.
1800 MYSUPPORT (24 hours)
Website: www.sass.org.au
SASS CEO Jill Maxwell
