The NSW Sexual Behaviours Context and Response Tool (SB-CaRT) for Children and Young People will assist you in deciding if you should be concerned about a child or young person's sexual behaviour. It is intended to be used as a way of understanding sexual behaviours when they are first identified and is designed to guide initial responses. It will also help you to develop a response plan.

The SB-CaRT for children and young people responds to the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The Royal Commission found that:

They reported a need to improve access to quality resources and guidance on sexual behaviours that are developmentally expected, problematic and harmful “to support early help seeking and referral and to enable adults to react and respond in a way that is proportional to the behaviours that have occurred”. Volume 10, p. 140

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. (2017). Final Report, Volume 10, Children with Harmful Sexual Behaviours. Australian Government. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/

Children First 2022-2031 was developed as part of the NSW Government response to the Royal Commission. It sets the vision and priorities for how NSW can and will work together to support children and young people who have displayed, or been affected by, problematic and harmful behaviours by applying a sector wide, multiagency public health approach.

A key commitment of NSW Government, under Children First was to develop a Common Approach to Identification and Support (CAIS) resource, including a NSW tool to support understanding and responses for children and young people's sexual behaviour. https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/parvan/hsb/Documents/children-first.pdf

The SB-CaRT is an identification tool, not an assessment tool, so you don't need to be an expert or have a lot of experience to use it.

To complete the SB-CaRT, you will need some basic information about the sexual behaviour that has raised concerns and who was involved. It is best to answer the questions based on the information you already have, to determine what to do next. You do not need to have all the answers.

In some situations, you may also find that you need to gather a small amount of additional information however make sure that this falls within your roles and responsibilities. In most cases, it is not appropriate to interview the child to attempt to find out more, as this is the role of a specialist investigator or assessor who may become involved after you have used the SB-CaRT.

The SB-CaRT can be completed over more than one sitting. You can save your responses at any time and come back to them later. You are also able to edit your earlier answers if needed. So, if you find that you need to take a break and consult with a colleague or manager, this is fine.

If you are unsure how to complete the Tool or how to answer the questions in the Tool, you should seek support from your manager, supervisor, or service child protection lead. Some agencies also have a Child Wellbeing Unit you may consult.

There is also information about consultation pathways in the Support Services section of the Tool.

Although the word 'child' is used throughout the Tool, it refers to both children and young people aged 0–17 years. The age and development of the child is a key contextual factor of the behaviour, that the Tool will support you to consider.

Where you are concerned about the sexual behaviours of more than one child, it is important to complete this tool separately for each child. This will allow you to consider and record the behaviours and context specific to each child and ensure the responses are tailored to their needs.

The SB-CaRT was developed in response to an identified need for a tool that met the needs of workers across a broad range of services. Existing tools were limited in their ability to reflect and consider the context of a child's behaviour including the child's development and ability, culture, and other diversities such as trauma experiences.

This tool was co-designed through workshops and user testing sessions, with key stakeholders across the NSW workforce including NSW Government, non-government and community-controlled organisations. The focus of these sessions was to ensure that the tool is user friendly, and the guidance aligns to local policies and procedures, is consistent with NSW legislation and can be used in different community and cultural contexts. For more information about the co-design process please visit the SB-CaRT webpage.

The Consider section of the SB-CaRT is based on Professor Simon Hackett's model (2010) of sexual behaviour in childhood. Professor Hackett and NSW Health have simplified this model into 3 levels of sexual behaviour:

Expected: The presence of sexual behaviours that are appropriate to the child's age, ability, stage of development and level of understanding. They might be typically expected in other, similar children.

Problematic: Sexual behaviours that fall outside the range of typical activity for a child's age, ability, and stage of development, or the expression of expected sexual behaviours in a way or context that is a problem for the child or others.

Harmful: Sexual behaviours that cause harm to the child or others or may be abusive towards others.

The SB-CaRT was also co-designed through workshops and user testing sessions, with key stakeholders across the NSW workforce including NSW Government, non-government and community-controlled organisations. The focus of these sessions was to ensure that the Tool is user friendly and the guidance aligns to local policies and procedures, is consistent with NSW legislation and can be used in different community and cultural contexts. For more information about the co-design process please visit the SB-CaRT webpage.

• The SB-CaRT has a strong focus on understanding the context of the sexual behaviours and the broader context for the child and their family/carer(s). This supports the user to provide a trauma informed and holistic response.
• Co-design with NSW stakeholders has enabled the Tool to be aligned with NSW policy and legislative requirements and practice frameworks.
• Response plans generated through the Tool promote collaboration across agencies and a coordinated response for children and families.
• The Aboriginal workforce across NSW Government and non-government agencies has been engaged throughout the design of the Tool, to ensure that it supports culturally responsive practice for Aboriginal children and families.
• The SB-CaRT platform contains additional resources and links to external websites that can be helpful when working with children and young people who have displayed sexual behaviours that have raised concerns or for other broader support needs.

• Anyone working with children and young people can use the SB-CaRT. This includes people working in government, non-government and community services or in private practice.
• You do not need to be in a particular role or have attended specific training to use the Tool. However, if you do want some additional information, there are a range of resources that you can access within the SB-CaRT.

Feasibility testing of the SB-CaRT tool is planned for the second half of 2026. This is to evaluate the tool and make improvements before it is implemented more broadly. If you have access to the tool, you are part of the feasibility testing and may provide feedback about your experience using the tool.

To use the SB-CaRT, your employing organisation must be participating in the feasibility testing. Participating organisations have an SB-CaRT Coordinator who can set their staff up as a User of the Tool.

The SB-CaRT helps workers to build an understanding of the sexual behaviours displayed by a child or young person and provide an appropriate response. It guides users through a structured process to:

1. Record: In this section you will record what you know, have seen or been told about the behaviour(s) that have raised concern.
2. Consider: This section helps you to consider the context of the behaviours in more detail and identify whether the behaviours are expected, problematic or harmful.
3. Respond: In this section you review and edit the Initial Response Plan, including actions to address the behaviours, any broader concerns and to build on the strengths of the child and family. This will ensure supports are tailored to their needs and situation.

Yes. As you complete each section, your answers will automatically save and begin to populate the Initial Response Plan at the end of the Tool. The Plan will provide you with some suggested next steps and guidance notes to support your response.

The suggested next steps will be based on the overall level of sexual behaviour, additional concerns and child and family strengths, you identified when completing the Tool.

You will be able to modify the initial response plan by removing any actions you no longer wish to include and adding additional actions where needed. You may also assign specific actions to other team members, where appropriate, and specify target completion dates for each action.

Yes. Once you have completed the Record and Response Plan, you should download copies of both and add these to your organisation's client records/files. The SB-CaRT portal does not replace your organisation's client record management system, which remains the primary record for the child.

It is recommended that you ask your line manager to review any Response Plans where the behaviours fall into the problematic or harmful category, or you have safety concerns for anyone involved. If you are a sole practitioner, you may want to discuss the plan and next steps with an appropriate colleague, as part of a confidential consultation.

If appropriate you can share the plan with the child and family and discuss the proposed actions with them to ensure the plan will meet their support needs.

You may also decide to share the Record and Initial Response Plan to support case consultations and service referrals.

Before sharing the Record and Initial Response Plan, ensure you are following information sharing legislation and your agency policy and procedures.

For more advice and information on available consultation and referral pathways refer to the Resources section of the Tool.

Yes. Information recorded in the SB-CaRT will be treated as confidential, except where disclosure is required or permitted by law (such as to ensure the safety, welfare, or wellbeing of a child). Information you enter into the tool can only be viewed by yourself, or by another staff member in your organisation where the record is reallocated by by your organisation's 'Coordinator(s)'.

The primary purpose of the SB-CaRT is to support you to understand the sexual behaviours displayed by a child and help you to develop an initial response plan. All free text responses recorded in the tool will be encrypted and all data entered will be stored in a secure database.

When creating a new SB-CaRT Record, you will be asked to create an Agency Record Identifier for the child. You can autogenerate a number by clicking into the space for the ARI. As this number is automatically generated it protects the child and their families identity.

If you do not have an Agency Record Identifier for the child in your own organisation's record management system, the SB-CaRT can generate a number for you, or you can enter one that you will remember. You will be reminded not to use any personal identifying information such as the child's name, date of birth or address. This helps to protect the child and their family's privacy.

Deidentified aggregate data from the SB-CaRT will be accessed by NSW Health to analyse trends and inform policy and Tool improvements, however NSW Health will not be able to access individual SB-CaRT Records.

Refer to the Data and Privacy Statement for more information.

Each organisation that signs up to their workforces using the SB-CaRT will appoint an Organisation Coordinator. The Coordinator supports the Organisation with a range of SB-CaRT access and use tasks, so they have a higher-level access than a general User. They can:

• Update their organisation details on the system and will be the first point of contact for communication about the SB-CaRT.
• Create, edit, archive and delete users within their organisation
• Access all Records and Response Plans created in their organisation (rather than just those allocated to them in the system)
• Allocate SB-CaRT Records and Initial Response Plans to any user within their organisation

The SB-CaRT does not replace any agency policies or procedures. It is an additional resource that can support understanding and planning responses.

One of the key benefits of everyone using the same tool, is that it will build a common language and understanding of the different levels of sexual behaviour displayed by children and young people and what makes an appropriate, collaborative and helpful response.

The response plan developed by completing the SB-CaRT may prompt you to complete the Mandatory Reporter Guide (MRG) for one or more of the children involved or harmed, depending on the answers that you enter into the Tool. The MRG will help you to determine if you should make a report to the Child Protection Helpline.

Irrespective of whether you make a report to the Helpline, you should still complete the SB-CaRT. This is because the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) is clear that making a report to the child protection helpline does not prevent you from responding to the needs of the child or young person [Section 29A] and requires "Prescribed Bodies" to co-ordinate decision making and delivery of services for children and young people [Section 245E].

The SB-CaRT will assist you by providing guidance about additional steps you and others can take to ensure a supportive, proportionate and coordinated response to the child(ren) who have displayed the sexual behaviours and their parents/carers.

When you complete the SB-CaRT you will have developed an Inital Response Plan that you can download and save. The Record and Initial Response Plan generated at the end of the SB-CaRT can be attached as additional information if you are making an eReport to the Helpline. You can also use them to support consultations and referrals to other services, where appropriate.