A mum restricted her daughter from going to sleepovers at her friends houses after her work as a child abuse detective led her to be wary of other children and adults.<br /><br />Kristi McVee, 42, decided to specialise in child protection after the birth of her daughter, 15, and says the job shaped the way she raised her.<br /><br />She only let her daughter go to sleepovers if she knows there won't be any unfamiliar adults present and she's vetted safe adults beforehand.<br /><br />Instead she would hold sleepovers at her home where she could keep a close eye - up until her daughter was 12-years-old. <br /><br />Kristi would personally vet any new people in her daughter's life she knew she'd be spending one-on-one time with - including friends and potential partners. <br /><br />Her internet usage would be closely monitored, and Kristi implemented bans on her daughter signing up for social media until she became a teenager. <br /><br />In the decade she worked as a child abuse detective, Kristi dealt with hundreds of “devastating cases” - including “child molestation from family members, dropped cases and cases involving children as young as four.” <br /><br />She says her time in the police made her "extra protective" over her daughter and unable to "blindly trust" anyone in her life. <br /><br />Kristi, from Bunbury, Western Australia, a retired detective, said: “I would be the one to hold the sleepovers - because I’m trustworthy and I knew I could keep her safe.<br /><br />“If I was holding a sleepover, there wouldn’t be any other adults present at my house. <br /><br />“I’ve seen several cases where a sleepover has happened at the same time as the parents throwing a party for other adults - and a member of the party has sexually assaulted one of the young girls staying over.<br /><br />“If my daughter did want to go on a sleepover - I’d have a thorough vetting process. I’d ask questions such as - ‘Who’s going?' and 'What are you going to be doing?”<br /><br />"Are they going to be allowed on devices, or are they going to be taken away at a certain stage?"<br /><br />According to Kristi, who retired from Western Australia Police Force in 2020, other adults aren’t the only people who need to be vetted before a sleepover. <br /><br />In Australia, 30 to 50 per cent of child sex abuse cases are perpetrated by other children. In the UK, the figure currently sits at 60 per cent. <br /><br />Kristi said: “In most cases, the abuser will be a relative, friend or sibling within the home.<br /><br />“I used to see it all the time on the job - and it’s not only boys who do it, girls can be perpetrators, too. <br /><br />“Brothers, cousins and friends are the most common.”<br /><br />Kristi says “unrestricted access to the internet” and porn could be contributing to the influx of under-18s displaying “harmful sexual behaviours.”<br /><br />She said: “Most children in Australia are being exposed to pornography by the age of nine - unrestricted access to the internet is allowing children to see and hear things that aren’t meant for them.<br /><br />Kristi has now published a book, Operation Kidsafe: A Detective's Guide to Child Abuse Prevention.
