PROMISE Elpis

Beyond ensuring a holistic and balanced intervention, protection, crisis support, therapeutic or medical evaluations and potential treatment, specific steps must be taken to ensure that the child receives adequate information, that undue delay is prevented, and that the best interests of the child is a primary consideration in all the interventions.

Drawing on our collective experience in promoting and implementing excellence in practice in Barnahus, this project promotes multidisciplinary and interagency models for child victims and witnesses of sexual violence, with a specific focus on specialised interventions and excellence in practice in cases where there is a presumed online element of the sexual violence. The overall objective is to ensure early identification, adequate assistance, protection and access to child-friendly justice, with specific emphasis on cases where online technology is an integral element to the abuse, by: (A) Contributing to a competent and committed multidisciplinary teams, equipped to provide a holistic and balanced intervention, including investigation and assistance (B) Supporting specialised professional interventions and operational capacity, adapted to the specific requirements and needs that may arise in the context of cases involving some form of online child sexual violence, and (C) Contributing key experience and learning from the project to regional policy development and exchange, in particular in light of ongoing European Union strategies relevant to the field, and proposed revision of European Unions instruments.

A key focus of the project is to develop and evaluate protocols and procedures, to contribute to a committed and competent workforce, and to promote holistic interventions that benefit from effective interagency case management to ensure that victims in the context of online child sexual violence receive appropriate and holistic support.

The National Children’s Advocacy Center is honored to be the only non-European participant in this project. Various NCAC Subject Matter Experts are collaborating with European counterparts to develop new training and resources for professionals responding to online child sexual abuse, and these European colleagues will be presenting with NCAC staff about this work at the NCAC’s 2025 International Symposium on Child Abuse.