By nature of their roles and responsibilities, staff and volunteers in child-related organisations such as early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are in a unique position to interact directly and develop trusting relationships with children.

However, some individuals will use this position to manipulate children for inappropriate or sexual contact while avoiding detection over time (a process sometimes called grooming). This can include the manipulation of protective adults around the child/ren, for example families or colleagues. Learning about how individuals sexually abuse children through manipulative behaviours is an important way for child-related organisations, their staff and volunteers to help safeguard children from risk of serious harm.

If you are concerned or have a suspicion that a child is at risk of abuse, including assault, physical or sexual abuse, grooming, harm, neglect or ill-treatment, you must report it. Any conduct towards a child that you suspect may be criminal in nature must be reported immediately to the NSW Police.

What are manipulative behaviours

International research shows that the number of individuals with a criminal record for sexual abuse prior to working or volunteering in child-related organisations is generally very low. This is due to intentional strategies perpetrators use to avoid being caught, such as moving between employers or relocating to different geographic areas.

This means that understanding manipulative behaviours is critical for safeguarding children, as it can assist in recognising and reporting those behaviours before sexual abuse takes place.

Manipulative behaviours, also known as grooming, encompass a variety of behaviours towards children and their protective adults, commonly involving developing overly familiar or supportive relationships that violate personal boundaries to obtain sexual contact with children.

Examples of manipulative or grooming behaviours

As staff and volunteers are expected to care for and educate children in their roles, manipulative behaviours can be difficult to identify. These behaviours serve many functions, including establishing trust with potential victims and their protective adults.

Individuals who sexually abuse children can also develop friendships with co-workers as part of their role, which can increase the reluctance to report suspicious behaviours in the organisation due to the uncomfortable nature of incidents in relation to co-workers.

Examples of manipulative behaviours with children include:

• giving children special attention and finding or creating opportunities to spend time alone with them
• giving gifts, rewards or privileges to children
• gradually desensitising children to sexual contact through physical interactions
• telling children that they would go to jail or get in trouble if they tell anyone about the sexual contact.

Embedding knowledge of manipulative behaviours into a safeguarding culture

Raising awareness of manipulative behaviours empowers staff and decision-makers to protect children and their organisation, which helps develop and maintain a safeguarding culture. In turn, an organisation with a strong safeguarding culture will also encourage education on manipulative behaviours.

A child-related organisation with a robust safeguarding culture will have:

• committed staff who understand when and how to make a report if they have concerns
• an explicit safeguarding culture with values and behaviours that are articulated and implemented at each level of organisation
• clear policies and procedures that outline expectations for staff on their role with children, and for staff, parents and children to raise concerns
• leadership that is prepared to act appropriately on concerns and staff who are prepared to challenge and raise concerns if necessary
• children with a voice and mechanisms for raising concerns.

Embedding safeguarding practices into recruitment

While it is not an easy task to determine whether an applicant is suitable for work with children or not during an interview, it is possible – with a better understanding of manipulative behaviours – to conduct a more rigorous examination of potential applicants and how they commonly interact with children to reduce the risk of employing an unsuitable candidate. Developing more efficient and rigorous recruitment practices is further facilitated in child-related organisations characterised by a safeguarding culture.

As part of my research on manipulative behaviours, I asked individuals convicted for sexually abusing children in child-related organisations to share their views on how to identify potential offenders during recruitment interviews.

Suggestions included:

• investigating motivations for working with children
• examining previous work history with children and questioning if a person has moved between many providers/places of employment
• exploring applicant’s preference for spending time with children
• asking for references from previous employers, including the most recent/current employer as an essential referee.

These suggestions align with empirical evidence in the field and should be considered in improving recruitment practices in child-related organisations.

Contacting previous employers and organisations is key to the recruitment process, as well as exploring the applicant’s capacity to work with children, including the expectations of the role, attitudes and behaviours of the applicant with children.

The NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian’s (OCG) Child Safe Recruitment and the Working with Children Check handbook provides guidance on how employers can select and support the most suitable staff to work with children and young people.

Reflective questions

• How could you incorporate the supporting resources provided in this article into your leadership team meetings to help build a safeguarding culture?
• What steps could you take to share these resources and develop training on child sexual abuse and manipulative behaviours with educators and staff to meaningfully develop their understanding?
• Have you completed a risk assessment in your organisation to identify current risks and set priorities for preventing child sexual abuse? Refer to ACECQA’s Child Safety Self-Assessment and Risk Assessment Tool (PDF 3.1 MB) or the OCG’s Child Safe Self-Assessment for assistance in risk assessment.
• How can you support your hiring manager/panel or recruiters to understand the manipulative behaviours that are commonly used to sexually abuse children and how to assess this through shortlisting, interview and reference check processes?
• How do you ensure adequate supervision is in place for staff and children, and how can you support staff to apply risk minimisation strategies in daily supervision planning and practice?
• If your organisation uses recruitment agencies, how do you verify their child-safe practices, and what additional measures can you put in place to support risk minimisation?

Further guidance and resources

• About grooming – information for child-related organisations, OCG
• Implementing the Child Safe Standards resources, OCG and NSW Early Learning Commission, including
  • Module 5: Hiring and Managing Child Safe Staff of the Child Safe Early Childhood Education and Care e-learning
  • Safe and skilled staff in Early Childhood Education and Care settings video
• Child safe recruitment and induction, June 2025 ECE Connect session
• Child safe recruitment webinar recording – register for access via ECEC Professional Learning Program