DR. MICHAEL SALTER: Adult survivors of child abuse,
they talk about the different ways that they disclosed in childhood.
There’s a really diverse spectrum of disclosure, and when we think about disclosure,
we often think about verbal disclosure.
It’s a very unrealistic picture of this six-year-old
who just marches up to a teacher and announces
that they’re being sexually abused by their father, for instance.
And it is a really naïve picture. That’s not how children disclose.
They don’t have the verbal competency, first off.
Very often, to put words to their experience,
it’s unclear to them what’s happening.
DR. PETER COLLINS: So, we look at it from a perspective of grooming.
Pedophiles seem to have an intuition as to who will be
more likely receptive to their inappropriate sexual overtures.
So they seem to be able to pick out children who are more needy,
they may come from disadvantaged homes,
they could come from the best background in the world.
It doesn’t matter. They will target children
who they think they can convince to engage in this inappropriate behaviour.
DR. JOYANNA SILBERG: It’s so easy to not know, and to say,
“Oh, it’s just a big misunderstanding,
we don’t have to worry about charges, don’t have to worry about jail,
don’t have to worry about anybody’s reputation.”
The choices that we’re given, they’re not equal.
Having abuse disclosed is not equal to not having abuse disclosed.
But the power of saving one child has ripple effects
on every other child in your school, every other child in the world, really,
to have one person who’s an abuser be discovered in some way.
So all of us are responsible. All of us are bystanders, or helpers.
There’s no one who’s exempt. We’re a community of people,
and if we’re going to care about children, all of us have that on us.