Three-year action plan to fight child sexual abuse

Social Welfare Minister Anastasia Anthousi on Thursday presented a three-year action plan to fight child sexual abuse and child pornography whose objective is the timely and fast identification of high-risk cases, their handling, and monitoring their progress.

The main objective of such plans is the timely identification and holistic management of high-risk cases, but also monitoring their process, Anthousi said during a press conference.

She explained that the plan will be prepared using the European Commission-funded CAN-MDS II (Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect via a Minimum Data Set) system, which will help promote a coordinated cross-sectoral response to child abuse incidents.
as a tool for preparing the plan enables the collection of uniform data and the recording of incidents, which will consequently contribute to a better understanding of the problem.

“The common goal of everyone involved should be to create safe conditions and protect children,” she said.

The three-year plan will focus on three different areas, the first being ensuring the necessary resources and training to build the capacity of professionals to spot, report and manage cases where abuse is likely.

This will entail collaborating with NGOs to create shelters and provide therapy to high-risk adolescents, as well as establishing a rehabilitation programme for teens and young adults who have committed sexual offences.

The second area of focus will be training professionals working with children to recognise child sexual abuse and spot the groups most vulnerable to it, which will be done in collaboration with the Foni initiative.
Anthousi added that 114 social workers and 90 shelter workers have already been trained in this context.

The third area of focus concerns managing incidents, and for the competent services to continue to sponsor and supervise the operations of the Children’s Home.

The press conference was also attended by police chief Stylianos Papatheodorou and Foni council president Anastasia Papadopoulou.