Warning: This article contains discussion of child sexual abuse.

It was an ordinary, lazy Sunday in the Milthorpe family home on October 27th, 2013, when Michelle woke up to her five-year-old, Rose, centimetres from her face.

Rose had something to tell her.

"I was kind of only half awake," Michelle told Mamamia's True Crime Conversations.

Rose then disclosed an incident of sexual assault she says happened at the hands of a family friend. The man had been an almost de-facto grandparent to Michelle's three children, alongside his wife, after they'd moved to Albury years earlier.

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The subtle signs of grooming parents often miss | True Crime Conversations

As the words washed over her, Michelle vomited in shock — it dawned on her that her middle daughter could also be a victim.

When she told her husband Brent, she struggled to get the words out.

Then she went into her eight-year-old daughter Pippa's room.

"She actually couldn't speak," Michelle recalled. "I just said to her that Rose told me that somebody had been doing something to her that she didn't like, and 'was there anything that she needed to tell me?' And she just started crying.

"She put the pillow over her head first, and then she started crying."

The girls told her it had been happening for as long as they could remember, "every time" they went there.

Rose and Pippa as young girls. Image: Supplied.

Rose chose that Sunday to talk to her Mum about the abuse because, as Michelle said, "my understanding was that it was getting worse. The offending was worse and more invasive, so she was being hurt."

In hindsight, Michelle can see the signs; frequent UTIs, the kids not wanting to go there anymore, and perhaps one of the most heartbreaking signs — Rose's superhero cape.

"Rose actually asked me to make her a superhero cape, and so I made her a 'Super Rose' cape," Michelle said. "She came home from their house that day, and she took it off and threw it on the ground and stamped on it. And I was like, 'What are you doing?' She said, 'It didn't work.' And I said, 'What do you mean? What was your superpower?' And she said, 'I wanted to be invisible, but he still found me.'"

Michelle said the grooming process was done very carefully, over many years.

"He groomed our whole family," Michelle said.

Michelle and a now 17-year-old Rose. Image: Michelle Milthorpe/Supplied.

Michelle's next call was to the man's wife — a woman who'd become like a mum to her.

The reaction she got when she shared the girl's disclosures was not what she was expecting.

"She wasn't shocked, really. It was just like, 'oh my god, what have you done, what have you done?'" Michelle said. "It felt like she died to us that day."

Next, they called the police.

There were officers in the Milthorpe home by the afternoon.

Michelle remembered pacing in front of them, saying, "I don't know how this happened," before glancing up and seeing a "massive police officer sitting there in tears."

Listen to the full interview with Michelle Milthorpe on True Crime Conversations. Post continues below.

Michelle assumed things would move quite quickly, but it took eight days for the specialist team in charge of child abuse allegations to call in the girls for an interview.

"Pip in particular, was sitting at home and she was like, 'well, they obviously don't care. If they cared they would have talked to us by now'," Michelle said.

"She'd been told that people wouldn't believe her and all that sort of thing. So [the lack of urgency] was not sitting well with her."

They didn't know it then, but that was the start of a long and gruelling journey through the NSW criminal justice system.

'I thought the system would re-empower my girls.'

If you look at historical data, rates of conviction in child sexual assault cases in NSW can be as low as 20 per cent.

The Milthorpe family can see why that's the case after experiencing both a jury pre-trial and trial in the NSW judicial system.

"I can't call it a justice system. It's not just a legal process, because it was so unjust….it was so difficult, it was shit," Michelle said.

Rose and Pippa in recent years. They went to court aged just seven and 11. Image: Michelle Milthorpe/Supplied.

Michelle thought going to court would "re-empower her girls" but instead it traumatised them — along with the entire family.

Looking back, the girls agree that one of the hardest parts of the court process was the waiting.

After waiting eight days to be interviewed, it was more than a month before their former family friend was arrested and charged. It took two-and-a-half years before the case went to trial.

"In that two-and-a-half years, the kids don't have an opportunity to move on, they don't have an opportunity to get onto the healing. It's all sort of about waiting and just pausing in this space," Michelle said.

"Rose did not learn how to read until she finished court, and it was almost instantaneous that she just picked it up. I think there was just such a trauma block."

The family watched Pippa withdraw into herself during that time; she became a shell of the vibrant, happy girl she once was.

By the time the trial arrived, she was a "suicidal 11-year-old," an emotional Michelle said.

Although court proceedings originally got underway in Albury, they were quickly moved to Sydney. The family re-located there for a number of weeks at their own expense for the trial in 2016.

At just seven and 11, the girls had to leave their parents behind and be chaperoned to the back of Sydney's Downing Centre court on the days they gave evidence.

Rose had to re-start her evidence when a jury member fell asleep.

Pippa was on the stand for five days.

They were both cross-examined, at length, without their parents present.

Everything about the process was very "adult" for two little girls who still held their parents' hands while crossing the road.

"Rose saw it as mean, and Pippa just shut-down. She was almost catatonic and just sat there with tears rolling down her face,'" Michelle said.

"I just had this impression of the justice system that is so naive….the protection was all around the offender and his rights, it was not at all about these children."

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As a teacher, Michelle was absolutely shocked at the way her children were spoken to by grown adults.

"It was absolutely shocking to me. It was just disgusting. The innocence of my kids was not considered," she said.

The paedophile was convicted of six counts of aggravated indecent assault against Pippa Milthorpe. He was acquitted of four charges of aggravated indecent assault in relation to Rose Milthorpe.

He was sentenced to three-years nine-months, and served two-and-a-half years.

"This is going to sound weird, but to me, it didn't matter if he was found guilty or not, because I knew my girls were telling the truth," said Michelle.

Once court was over, Rose bounced forward into life. It took Pippa, however, a little bit longer.

"She found it really hard to find any joy in anything," said Michelle.

Slowly, but surely, the tight-knit Milthorpe family pieced themselves back together. Then they turned their pain and anger into action.

How the Milthorpe family changed NSW law.

During the trial, Michelle started hearing about a trial program that had been running out of Sydney and Newcastle that allowed child victims to pre-record all their evidence for court.

The Child Sexual Offences Evidence Program (CSOEP) also provided child victim-survivors with intermediaries, like a social worker or a psychologist, to help them during interviews and hearings.

The whole purpose of the program was to reduce trauma for child witnesses, and mitigate the need for a child to step into a courtroom at all. Even their cross-examination was pre-recorded, within six months of their court evidence.

For Michelle, the changes were a no-brainer. They would have saved her daughters from a lot of trauma. As far as she could see, the trials were being widely praised, so she started to follow their progress. She couldn't understand why they weren't being further rolled out.

Every year, for six years, she would write to the Attorney General and tell their story and strongly advise an extension of the program.

Every year she'd get a polite response.

Then, in 2022, her daughters joined the fight.

When they found out about the program from their mum, they immediately wanted to help expand it and the family decided on a petition to parliament. But they realised they needed media attention to gain momentum.

However, they didn't realise these cases aren't reported in detail by the media, as usually, the names of underage victims are suppressed.

In 2022, with the help of victim-survivor Nina Funnell and news.com 's Let Her Speak campaign, the Milthorpe family successfully argued in court that they should be able to tell their story.

Their story broke in November. By December, they had 69,000 signatures.

Maggie, Rose, Michelle, Brent and Pippa Milthorpe. Image: Michelle Milthorpe/Supplied.

In 2023, then NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced $64.3 million over four years to expand the Child Sexual Offences Evidence Program (CSOEP) to every District Court and Police District in NSW.

Michelle, Pippa and Rose stood by his side as he made the announcement.

"I've met two witness intermediaries in Albury. One of them actually became one after she heard me speak. So that…I actually cried," said Michelle.

Michelle's daughters, Pippa, 20, Rose, 17, and Maggie, 22.

Right now, the program is only available across NSW, but the Milthorpe family want to see it rolled out nationwide.

Michelle is hoping to help that by becoming a member of parliament herself — she's currently running as an independent for her local seat of Farrer. Fighting for child sexual assault survivors is integral to her priorities.

"My eyes have been opened, and so that's why I am, where I am," she said.

"You know, if we want to make change, then you've got to be prepared to stand up."

Feature image: Supplied.

If this brings up any issues for you, contact Bravehearts , an organisation dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse, on 1800 272 831.

For help and support for those with complex trauma, the Blue Knot Foundation is there to help. Blue Knot Helpline and Redress Support Service provides specialist trauma counselling to adult survivors of childhood trauma including child sexual abuse.

If you or anyone you know needs expert help, please contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) — the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service. If you are in immediate danger, call 000.