Spike in vile parents abusing their children

PARENTS are sexually abusing their own children in lockdown, with calls for help soaring 50 per cent this year as Covid-19 restrictions help paedophiles cover up their crimes.

Reports to Kids Helpline over family sexual abuse have soared 70 per cent in Victoria, where 150 children called the hotline for help between January and June.

Shocking new statistics reveal sexual abuse and incest between parents, children and siblings has risen an average of 50 per cent across the country. Yourtown, which operates Kids Helpline, has referred many of the 662 children’s calls to police and child safety officials for investigation.

Describing the shocking rise in family sexual assaults as a “pandemic within a pandemic’’, Yourtown chief executive Tray Adams warned that Covid-19 lockdowns were helping perpetrators hide their vile abuse of children.

“Child sexual abuse can take place behind closed doors,’’ she said.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected daily life through restrictions on people’s movements and interactions, potentially limiting opportunities for child abuse to be detected and reported.’’

In NSW, 114 children called to report sexual abuse – 49 per cent more than in the first half of 2020.

Kids’ calls for help rose 30 per cent in Queensland, where 118 abused children reported sexual abuse to the government-funded helpline.

In South Australia, 42 children called for help – up 8 per cent compared to the first half of 2020.

The number of children reporting sexual abuse in Tasmania jumped from five to 19 – a 280 per cent increase.

Four children reported sexual abuse in the Northern Territory – the same as last year – while the number in Western Australia rose from 31 to 47, up 52 per cent.

Australian Federal Police said perverted parents are pimping their children to online paedophiles, who sell videos and photos of child abuse worldwide.

And the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that family sexual assaults have soared 13 per cent during the Covid-19 pandemic as victims are trapped at home with rapists.

Sexual abuse between family members rose at a rate six times faster in 2020 than in the two years prior to the pandemic.

Yourtown has hired an extra 100 counsellors since the start of the pandemic and is supporting a new podcast, No Laughing Matter, to tackle the taboo topic of incest.

Comedians Adam Hills, Fiona O’loughlin and Jean Kittson narrate the podcast, reading the real-life stories of adult survivors of incest.

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