Before Reporting Historical Institutional Child Sexual Abuse - Please Read

thought reporting my childhood sexual abuse would be the hardest part. I was wrong. Nearly a decade after walking into a police station, my criminal case has been referred to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions twice. I've navigated the National Redress Scheme, pursued a civil claim, undergone medical assessments, relived my childhood through statements and interviews, and waited - sometimes for months, sometimes for years - for the next step. Australia has encouraged survivors to come forward since the Royal Commission. But what happens after we do? In this deeply personal opinion piece, the writer argues that while the abuse was the first trauma, the pursuit of justice can become the second. She asks whether Australia has become better at helping survivors navigate broken systems than fixing the systems themselves-and whether it's time to rethink what justice should really look like.