Promising Practice Programs

People with Disability
PO Box 666
Strawbery Hills, NSW, 2012

Maria Attard, Senior Project Officer
Phone: 02 9370 3100
Fax: 02 9318 1372
Email: mariaa@pwd.org.au

www.sadaproject.org.au

Family and Housing Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FAHCSIA) - Office for Women

May 2006

The program was completed in June 2008. The intention to run the program again is subject to ongoing funding. The project has not been run previously.

Background
The Sexual Assault in Disability and Aged Care Action Strategy (SADA Action Strategy) was initiated in 2005 by the Northern Sydney Sexual Assault Service due to the number of older women and women with disability approaching their service and the growing awareness of the lack of appropriate responses within the ageing and disability sector. Key stakeholders involved in the project are People With Disability, NSW Police, NSW Health, Department of Ageing, Victim Services, Guardianship Tribunal, Office of Public Guardian, Disability and Home Care (DADHC), NSW Health and disability and age care service providers.

Aim
To effectively prevent and respond to sexual assault of vulnerable women in disability and aged care residential settings.

• Community awareness, promotion, advocacy programs
• Service provider professional development and training; Training for community groups/organizations
• Disability service provision and training

• The SADA project is NSW state-wide

The primary target groups are:
Older women and women with disability living in residential care settings including group homes, institutions and aged care facilities.

The secondary target group is service providers and direct care staff to this group of women. Men who are sexually assaulted in these settings will also benefit from this project.

What need in the community does the program meet?
Outlining effective prevention and effective response measures to sexual assault.

How did the program originate?
The SADA project was work initially undertaken by the Northern Sydney Sexual Assault Service in 2005. In 2002 the Northern Sydney Sexual Assault Service produced the resource book "Myalla: Responding to People with Intellectual Disabilities who have been Sexually Assaulted". This resulted in many services and clients contacting the service about the sexual assault of these vulnerable people, the difficulties they had ensuring these people's safety, and prosecuting these matters.

At the same time, the Sexual Assault Service was also seeing an increasing number of older women in nursing homes and aged care facilities who were being sexually assaulted and where no action was being taken. A case example is that of an 86 year-old woman, without dementia, who needed to be moved from hostel to nursing home care. Whilst awaiting a bed she was placed for a few nights in the Dementia care unit respite bed. She was raped on the first night by a male nurse, and disclosed to a visitor the next day. The woman's physical frailty and speech difficulties meant the police did not proceed to criminal action. The staff person continues to work in aged care facilities.

Was any specific research used to inform the program?
The distribution of the book "Myalla: Responding to People with Intellectual Disabilities who have been Sexually Assaulted" published by the Northern Sydney Sexual Assault Service. The response from this book instigated awareness across the sectors and formed the framework across agencies to begin the SADA project.

The SADA regional consultation report: Findings and recommendations from the 44 consultations across NSW with management and direct care workers with disability and aged care residential service providers. This report informed the outcomes of the SADA project.

The SADA project is a new initiative, with some aspects of the model taken from the UK resource No Secrets (see 'Framework' section, below).

Has the program been designed with a specific community in mind?
Women with disability and older women in aged care residential settings.

What strategies have been attempted or have been successful in making the program accessible to this group?
The SADA project has focused on raising awareness with residential service providers in the disability and aged care sectors about the issue of sexual assault of women with disability and older women thus accessible formats were not a priority this time.

Does the program engage with other agencies/services/individual that respond to sexual assault? If so, how are they involved?
The SADA project is guided by a reference group consisting of the following stakeholders who communicate the aims of the project through their networks.

• People With Disability Australia
• Attorney Generals
• Victims Services
• NSW Police
• NSW Office of the Public Guardian
• NSW Violence Against Women Network (VAW)
• NSW Women's Health
• NSW sexual assault services
• Department of Ageing Disability and Home Care (DADHC)
• Aged and disability service providers

The SADA project has also been invited to speak at national, state and regional conferences in the aged, disability and judiciary sectors.

The SADA project is developing a training package for disability service providers on relationships and sexuality and responding to sexual assault. This training package will specifically target best prevention and response strategies of sexual assault in disability residential settings.

Has the program been evaluated?
It will be evaluated at the end of the project June 2008.

If the program has not been evaluated, what other evidence is there that the program is achieving its goals?
The SADA project has received positive feedback from seminars/conferences attended by participants. The SADA project has had input and co-facilitated the roll-out training on the 'Relationships and Sexuality' and 'Responding to Sexual Assault' to DADHC disability support workers across NSW.

If the program has been designed for a particular group or community, could it be replicated or useful for other groups or communities in responding to sexual assault?
The project has targeted the aged and disability residential sectors in NSW, the project has the potential and replicability to be implemented nationally. The SADA project is unique as it works cross-sectorally bringing the aged, disability and health sector together highlighting the vulnerability of these populations in residential settings as opposed to the category of their vulnerability.

"Prevention begins with addressing the cultural values and norms that support and tolerate sexual assault. This is a long term undertaking requiring sustained leadership and effort". (Urbis Keys and Young 2004 'National Framework for Sexual Assault Prevention', Office of the Status of Women, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia Government)

The SADA project believes that a significant factor affecting the vulnerability of older people in residential settings stems from cultural attitudes about ageing and sexuality. In Western society, sex is believed to belong to the young. Aged care residential organisations find it challenging to provide genuine opportunities for intimacy in an environment when the needs of the individual at times are lost in systems and bureaucracies of the service providers.

Likewise, there is a link between the perception of the sexuality of people with a disability, and awareness of their vulnerability to sexual assault. Sobsey (Sobsey 1994 Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disability, Paul H Brookes, Baltimore USA) states that at a macro system level, people with disability are often viewed as less worthy members of society who are not entitled to the same protection and human dignity as other people. Some sex offenders maintain people with intellectual disability do not understand what is happening to them and are therefore not harmed by it: the reason the SADA project combined aged and disability residential settings was due to the Northern Sydney Sexual Assault Service supporting victims from these settings and finding the same perpetrating staff were moving between sectors.

The SADA project adopted the following mission statement from the UK model based on No Secrets (No secrets: Guidance on developing and implementing multi agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4008486).

"To create a framework for action in which all responsible agencies work together to ensure an integrated approach to:

• Protect vulnerable people in care settings
• Provide an affective response to incidents or concerns of sexual assault"

Thus a key goal of SADA is the protection of vulnerable people, where a 'vulnerable person' is defined as someone in need of care services by reason of their age, disability or illness, and who may be unable to care for themselves, or protect themselves against harm or exploitation.

To recognise sexual assault, an awareness of the cultural dynamics of sexuality is essential. An awareness of one’s own sexuality in terms of culture, expression, needs and wants enables acceptance of the sexuality of people with disability and the elderly, their entitlement to healthy relationships and recognition of abuse.

Publications
The SADA regional consulatation report will be available on the website: www.sadaproject.org. See ACSSA Aware 18 for a Service Profile on the SADA project

Is the program available for others to use?
The SADA website will contain information and tools for prevention and best practice response to sexual assault in disability and aged care residential settings. The training package for disability service providers will be held by People With Disability and Family Planning NSW. Please contact them for further information.