Developing your strategic response to child sexual abuse

All safeguarding children partnerships have a leadership role to play in developing responses to child sexual abuse, so that children and young people receive the protection and support they need, wherever they live. 

In 2024, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s review into child sexual abuse within the family environment recommended that all safeguarding partnerships should “develop a local action plan to respond to its recommendations as it affects local multi-agency practice,” to overcome local strategic challenges in identifying and responding to this abuse. 

To help partnerships do this, we have written Developing your strategic response to child sexual abuse: A guide for safeguarding children partnerships. It gives practical advice on how to overcome the strategic challenges of responding to child sexual abuse in their area, develop a new strategy or monitor, review and improve their existing strategy.

Designed for all those working with local and regional safeguarding children partnerships, the guide covers each level the response to all forms of child sexual abuse – from top-level governance and accountability, to an effective action plan that professionals everywhere, in each agency, can easily follow.