Keeping Kids SafeThe road to justice and healing with actor and child sexual abuse survivor Madeleine West
This is the 22nd episode of Keeping Kids Safe - A Bright Futures podcast by the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, featuring Bruce and Denise Morcombe.
It’s a tragic aspect of child sexual abuse, that often the victim survivors are denied a voice to speak about what happened to them.
That in the noise of reporting and researching the prevalence of child sexual abuse, their voice is not heard.
Community attitudes, legal restrictions, and outdated attitudes of who is responsible, can leave the person who survived the abuse, feeling blame and guilt for what happened to them.
And that leads to silence. And people not realising the extent of the problem throughout all levels of society.
Australian actor Madeleine West is on a mission to turn that around. She has bravely told her story of child sexual abuse in multiple media outlets, in print, through audio, and on programs such as 60 Minutes. And she’s hoping that by doing this, she can empower others to tell the truth of what happened to them. So that the shame on victims ends, and is rightly placed on the perpetrator.
By doing this Madeleine hopes that awareness is raised, and hopefully prevents other children from becoming victims.
Today on Keeping Kids Safe - A Bright Futures podcast for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation - Madeleine West tells us about the turning point that enabled her to tell her story. She also talks about the supports she continues to use to help her cope with the revelations, and what she hopes people who have had similar experiences of child abuse can do to access help, on the long road to justice and healing.
As Denise Morcombe says - t’s time for difficult conversations to shine light on this hidden topic. This podcast talks openly about child abuse, child sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation and harmful sexual behaviours.
Each episode of this series will feature practical insights on how to teach your child safety in the world today.
REMINDER: As Denise says in the podcast - Take care when listening. Please contact Lifeline if you need support after listening to this, on 13 1114 or you can call 1800 Respect.
GET IN TOUCH
This podcast is produced by Nance Haxton with production assistance from Michael Adams. To get in touch with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation about any of the information shared in this podcast, go to https://danielmorcombe.com.au/bright-futures/ or phone 1300 326 435
CREDITS
Host: Nance Haxton
With thanks to Madeleine West
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation - 1300 326 435 or https://danielmorcombe.com.au/bright-futures/
- Predatory Podcast
Madeleine West and Gary Jubelin have teamed up to tackle a topic that no one seems to want to talk about, but we have to. People love to talk about true crime, but when it comes to one of the biggest crime problems in the country, we stay silent. We’re talking about child sexual abuse, and we need to all speak up and get this conversation going. Madeleine shares her own powerful story of survival for the first time and Gary shares his experiences hunting down predators as a homicide detective. The pair are sitting down with survivors, experts and those working on the frontlines to combat this problem to bring you the best information possible to keep your kids safe.
- 6 part series - Predatory on Apple Podcasts
- Restart Podcast
Two years ago, Madeleine West hit restart on her life. She packed up her life in Melbourne and moved to Byron Bay, split up with her partner of 15 years and the father of her six kids and she started life again. And now she wants to find out why and how women from across the country are restarting their lives. For 10 weeks, Restart will look into why more and more women are pressing refresh on their lives, and how the hell they’ve done it. From divorce to health, to appearance, to career, to sex. Restart, it’s never too late to change everything.
- 60 minutes interview aired in February 2024
