1. Many victims and survivors of child sexual abuse find that they need support services during the often traumatic experience of seeking accountability and reparations. By support services, in this context, we refer to any specialist advocacy services, medical services, mental health services and therapeutic services, in either the state, private or voluntary sectors.

2. During the hearings we heard consistently that victims and survivors of child sexual abuse struggle to access the right support at the right time.^[1] The availability and effectiveness of support services nationally and locally continues to be an important issue for victims and survivors. It has featured across a number of other strands of the Inquiry's work and is an issue that we continue to examine.^[2]

3. The focus of this chapter is on the particular issue of the provision of support to victims and survivors during and through civil proceedings and criminal investigations.