Parents, Protection and System Responsibility

About this Conversation Café

90 minutes | Conversation-focused | No pre-work required

This April Conversation Café offers a calm, facilitated space to reflect on the role of parents, carers and systems in protection, prevention and response when intrafamilial harm occurs.

Many survivors carry layered experiences of childhood harm alongside complex relationships with parents and caregivers. Some parents live with regret, confusion or grief about what they did not know or could not prevent. Systems intended to protect children can sometimes support families well, and at other times add further harm.

This conversation is not about blame.

It is about reflection, responsibility and understanding how protection is shaped, missed or carried differently across families and systems.

This session has been shaped by reflections shared in our January gathering, where participants named questions about parental roles, prevention, pornography exposure, silence and the limits of systems to respond with care.

Rather than offering instruction or solutions, this Conversation Café invites thoughtful dialogue around questions such as:

• What does protection look like in real family life, not theory?
• How parents and carers navigate responsibility when harm is disclosed
• Where systems support families, and where they fall short
• How prevention, silence and exposure intersect across generations

This conversation will also hold space to reflect on how exposure, silence and system responses intersect with prevention and protection, without isolating or sensationalising these topics.

This is not a workshop and not a panel. It is a facilitated Conversation Café, held with care for readiness, complexity and lived experience.

Who This Conversation Is For

This Conversation Café may be of interest to:

• people with lived experience of sibling sexual trauma and other forms of intrafamilial harm
• survivors of emotional, psychological or relational abuse within families
• parents, carers and loved ones navigating disclosure or its aftermath
• advocates, writers and educators exploring public voice and identity
• practitioners and allies seeking deeper understanding

You do not need to have attended previous Conversation Cafés to join.

Format and What to Expect

This is a 90-minute facilitated Conversation Café held online via Zoom.

• Participation is always invitational
• Some people come ready to speak, others to listen. Both are welcome
• The space is intentionally not crowded and allows room for every voice
• No pressure to share personal details

This 90-minute Conversation Café follows a facilitated structure that supports safety, reflection and choice, is respectful of time and shared participation, plus allows the conversation to unfold naturally.

Practical Details

Date & Time:

Wednesday 15th April 2026 starting 6:00 AM until 7:30 AM Australian Eastern Standard Time (Brisbane time) | UK: Tuesday 14th April 2026 starting 8:00 PM and USA CT starting 3:00 PM / PT starting 1:00 PM and ET starting 4:00 PM

Check out your favourite timezone converter to double check what time it is for you where you are.

Length: 90 minutes
Format: Online via Zoom
Recording: The host records for internal purposes to create an anonymised recap newsletter for participants to reflect on after the event. The recordings are not shared.

A recap newsletter will be sent to participants later in the month.

Safety, Privacy and Agreements

To protect everyone’s privacy and safety:

• No screenshots, photos, ai note taking or participant recordings
• Some attendees may use pseudonyms for legal or personal reasons
• Participant names or identifying details are never shared without consent

Attendance is intentionally limited to keep the space relational and contained.

You are not expected to speak, share or perform. Showing up is enough.

Registration Options

Standard Registration: $40 AUD = $27 USD | £20 GBP | €23 EUR
(Indicative only. Final amount depends on current exchange rates.)

Eventbrite will convert to your local currency at checkout.

Your ticket supports the sustainability of Blue Borage and the care involved in holding these spaces. Eventbrite fees are absorbed so your full ticket contributes directly to facilitation, coordination and follow-up.

Discount options:

• Lived experience community discounts are available through these newsletters: 5WAVES, Blue Borage and IncestAware. Register for those newsletters to view the promocode for each organisation.
• Newcomers may use NEWCOMER26 for a 10% discount for your first event.

About Blue Borage

Blue Borage creates trauma-aware spaces for conversation, learning and reflection. Our Conversation Cafés bring people together from around the world to explore complex topics with care, choice and respect for readiness.

#conversationcafe #systems #identity #intrafamilialharm #survivorvoices #blueborage #traumaaware #parents