Refer: respond to student-to-student abuse

For matters involving sexual offences schools can refer directly to local sexual assault services. This includes local Centres Against Sexual Assault (CASAs) and harmful sexual behaviour services. These services will provide:

• support for students who have experienced sexual harm and abuse
• support for school wellbeing staff to manage sexual abuse incidents involving students
• treatment programs for students using harmful sexual behaviours
• support for parents and carers of students using harmful sexual behaviours
• support staff to support victims of sexual offences
• victim-centric communication.

Key services for students who have experienced student-to-student abuse are:

• headspace: mental health and wellbeing support for 12-25-year-olds
• Victims of Crime: support and information for people affected by crime.

For full contact details, see a list of helplines and websites.

You can also consider:

• a local specialist support service that the student or their family already work with
• the student or family’s general practitioner (GP)

Their GP can connect the student to psychologists, counsellors and other health specialists.

Decisions about the needs of First Nations Peoples should be made by First Nations Peoples.

If someone identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, they can choose to be supported by a worker from an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO).

See a list of ACCOs.

Your school should continue to:

• provide support to the student
• monitor the situation
• follow the 4 Critical Actions to respond to new information or risks.

You may refer a student without their parents’ or carers’ knowledge or consent when:

• not connecting the student to a service increases the risk to the student’s safety or wellbeing
• informing the parents or carers increases the risk to the student's safety or wellbeing.

Depending on the circumstances and what the student wants, you can engage with one parent or carer and not the other.

Contact the service to seek advice if you are unsure about whether you can make a referral without the parents’ or carers’ knowledge or consent.

Access to specialist services varies across communities. If local support is limited or not immediately available, schools can contact:

• their senior education improvement leader or area executive director
• Regional Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion Workforces.

For contact details, see support and advisory services for school staff.

If a student is using harmful sexual behaviours, and their parents or carers are not willing or able to help the student connect to a service, you can call Child Protection. This is important if there is another child or young person, such as a sibling, living in the same house as the student using harmful sexual behaviours. That child or young person may be at risk of sexual abuse.

Child Protection will undertake a risk assessment and determine if further action is required.

If Child Protection assesses that a student needs therapeutic treatment, they will connect them to a service for sexual abuse behaviour treatment.

If the student is unlikely to access the service voluntarily, Child Protection can apply for a Therapeutic Treatment Order. This will require the student and their parents or carers to attend a service.

Call Child Protection

During business hours (8:45am to 5pm, Monday to Friday), call the intake service for the student’s local government area (LGA) where they normally live:

• North Division: 1300 598 521
• South Division: 1300 555 526
• East Division: 1300 360 452
• West Division: 1300 360 462.

After hours, call the afterhours service: 13 12 78.

If you are unsure which number to call, find which LGAs are in each intake service at Child Protection contacts.

Engage school staff with information sharing responsibilities to share and request information with and from other Information Sharing Entities (ISEs) under the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS).

For example, your school can:

• share details of an incident with your local CASA/harmful sexual behaviour service
• request information on the status of a referral.

To share information safely and appropriately, follow the guidance for staff who use CISS and FVISS.

If a student or their parents or carers do not want to engage with a service at this time, you can give them the list of services, helplines and websites.

By giving them this list, the student or their parents or carers can directly connect with further support and information when they are ready. This is another way to help them feel empowered and make it more likely that they seek help, even if it is not immediate.

Follow up with the student or their parent or carers to ensure they can access the services they need. If the student is unable to access a service, consider alternatives that may be available.

At all times, you should:

• continue to provide support to the student
• monitor the situation
• continue to follow the 4 Critical Actions to respond to new information or risks.

This should be in collaboration with:

• the student
• their parents or carers
• relevant authorities
• specialist support services involved in supporting the student.