Offender Tactics

What children should know

Children should know that adults who break the body rules know what they are doing is wrong so they will use tactics to prevent others from finding out about the abuse. These tactics include:

Why this is an important part of child sexual abuse prevention

Perpetrators of sexual abuse are generally well known and liked by children and their families. As an adult you may have some confusing feelings about sharing information about child sexual abuse and offender tactics. But by becoming informed of the techniques used by child sexual abuse offenders, children are more likely to question the motives behind the behaviours listed above and identify them as offender tactics. Without this understanding, children will be more likely to blame themselves for the abuse or be more vulnerable to it.

The ongoing secrecy surrounding child sexual abuse is the greatest risk to our children’s safety because it protects perpetrators and creates an environment for them to continue to abuse children without detection.

Ideas for having conversations on this concept