Our Board
Scarlett Franks
Our Board
Scarlett Franks
Scarlett is a survivor of organised child sexual abuse and exploitation and many of their unjustly common consequences, including homelessness, poverty, and lifelong physical disability. A childhood passion for science led her to pursue social science research aimed at understanding, preventing, and improving responses to child sexual abuse.
As a survivor-researcher at The University of Sydney from 2018-2024, Scarlett coauthored projects examining human rights violations survivors face in our healthcare systems. She was awarded a scholarship by the NSW Ministry of Health to develop her research skills. Psychiatric Oppression in Women’s Lives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) emerged from a participatory-action study examining the way involuntary mental health treatment can replicate the dynamics of male-pattern violence.
In 2018, Scarlett received the David Anstice Leadership Scholarship to study human rights at the University of California and intern for a US Congressman in Washington D.C. Her research on public health approaches to preventing child sexual abuse directly influenced the Congressman’s legislative agenda and forged new partnerships with the Congressional Foster Youth Caucus.
Dedicated to cultivating survivor communities, Scarlett formerly facilitated peersupport groups for people in suicidal distress and now co-facilitates peer-support for survivors of modern slavery, including child sex trafficking, with Survivor Connections.
Scarlett consults as a survivor-advocate for organisations such as the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse, the NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner, and formerly the Blue Knot Foundation, the National Office of Child Safety, the Domestic, Family, and Sexual Violence Commission, and the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety. Her first love is working with children, especially through volunteering with foster youth.
