International Best Practice for Protecting Children from Child Sexual Abuse: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is one of the most serious violations of a child’s rights, with profoundly devastating and lasting impacts on the safety, wellbeing and development of children. Despite growing awareness and concern about child sexual abuse, it remains a pervasive issue, with an alarming prevalence. Recent data suggested almost one-third of Australians have experienced some form of child sexual abuse, and that many cases are not reported to police (Mathews et al., 2023; 2025). Recent events, such as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017), have exposed critical failings in the prevention and safeguarding of children. It is clear that the prevention and response to child sexual abuse requires a co-ordinated, multi-faceted and evidence-based strategy. The Child Death Review Board commissioned a Review of System Responses to Child Sexual Abuse under section 29I of the Queensland Family and Child Commission Act 2014, at the request of the Attorney General on 4 December 2024. As part of this review, the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit (SVRPU) was engaged to identify international best practices in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse. This report addresses the first of these two focus areas—prevention—by examining educational and community-based programs, and contextual prevention strategies for building protective environments, including culturally appropriate approaches for specific populations, such as First Nations communities. The Queensland Family and Child Commission proposed two research questions: 1. What educational and community-based programs have proven successful in preventing child sexual abuse, and how do they foster protective environments and community awareness, particularly for vulnerable populations like Indigenous communities? 2. How do Australia’s practices for protecting children from sexual abuse compare with leading international models, and what lessons can be adapted to improve outcomes in the Australian context?