Organised Child Sexual Abuse: The Contemporary Picture

This session is available for 6.00 APA and ASWB credits.

This pre-conference workshop provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary research and theory on organised child sexual abuse. Drawing on original and cutting-edge research, the workshop will provide attendees with foundational information for the conceptualisation and treatment of cases of organised abuse. The workshop will contextualise the challenges of preventing, detecting, intervening and treating organised abuse within an insufficient although expanding response to child sexual exploitation. Workshop attendees will be invited to provide contributions and reflections based on their experience working with this population and the presenter will be available to offer answers and suggestions.

The workshop involves three sessions. Session 1 will provide an overview of organised abuse, including: the history of organised abuse and associated controversies over false memories, the prevalence and most common scenarios of organised abuse, the psychological and psychosocial sequelae of organised abuse, and policy and practice challenges. Key discussion points will include: attachment to sadistic caregivers, enmeshment with perpetrators, ongoing victimisation into adulthood, and navigating dissociative realities.

Session 2 will focus on the role of technology and the internet in child sexual exploitation. The session will unpack the explosion in online abuse and child sexual abuse material over the last twenty years and its implications for victims and survivors of organised abuse. This session will explain the role of the technology industry in child sexual exploitation and dispel myths about the “dark web”, online offender networks and child sexual abuse material. Discussion points will include the unique psychological impacts and safety consequences of online abuse and child sexual abuse material for victims and survivors, and the need for a victim-centric response to online abuse.

Session 3 will discuss organised and extreme abuse, including sadistic and ritual abuse. These phenomena will be framed through the lens of 'malignant trauma' in order to understand the intergenerational transmission of sexual violence within families, and the significant barriers to detection and intervention by existing child protection and criminal justice agencies. Discussion will focus on the disruption of intergenerational enactments and opportunities to transform and communicate the profound loneliness, dread and violence at the core of extreme abuse.