Training Description
The Risk of Sexual Abuse of Children (ROSAC) is a structured professional guide to help professionals assess the risk a sexual abuser poses to a particular child and under what circumstances, if any, the abuser might safely be allowed contact with the child. Designed for use by mental health professionals, child protection services professionals, probation and parole officers, and victim advocates, the ROSAC can be used in a number of important circumstances, including:
• Investigating a report that a sexual abuser is now living with a family that has children and the agency must determine the risk of sexual harm to the child and develop an intervention plan
• At the request of probation, determining whether to grant a convicted sexual abuser's request to live in a home where children are present
• Determining whether to reunite a family in which the father sexually abused one of his children
Trainer Biography
Robert McGrath, MA is the lead developer of the SOTIPS, VASOR-2, and ROSAC. Former Clinical Director of the Vermont Department of Corrections integrated network of prison and community sex offender treatment programs and past President of the Safer Society Foundation Board of Directors, Mr. McGrath has over 30 years of experience providing clinical, consulting, training, administration, and research services focused on the assessment, treatment, and management of individuals who have committed sexual offenses. He has served on treatment advisory boards and accreditation panels for the national sex offender treatment programs in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. In the United States, he has consulted to 10 sexual violent predator civil commitment programs and numerous prison, probation, and parole programs. His over 50 research publications have been supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Justice, Center for Sex Offender Management, and Corrections Research at Public Safety Canada.
Learning Objectives
This training is designed to help you:
- Explore the need for a risk assessment instrument evaluating the risk to children posed by convicted sex offenders around children
- Discuss the development of the Risk of Sexual Abuse of Children (ROSAC)
- Identify clinical scenarios in which using the ROSAC would be appropriate, and describe how the instrument could aid decision-making