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Children who display sexually harmful behaviour

Journalist briefing, July 2006

What is sexually harmful behaviour (SHB) in children?

SHB covers a wide range of behaviours that are not part of a child's normal sexual exploration and development. SHB can range from sexually aggressive language to indecent exposure through to rape. It covers both the forcing or coercing of another person into watching or taking part in inappropriate or harmful sexual behaviour.

Facts and figures:

  • 25-35 per cent of sexually abused children have been abused by another young person.1
  • Young males aged 10 to 21 years old account for 43 per cent of all those cautioned for sexual offences in England and Wales.2
  • The majority of those who display SHB are adolescent males, but younger children and females also commit sexually harmful acts.3
  • Brothers or stepbrothers are the relatives most often cited as the perpetrators of sexual abuse within the family.4
  • Adolescents 'treated' for SHB showed over a 72 per cent reduction in sexual re-offending compared with those who were not.5
  • The average age of children 'treated' by the NSPCC for SHB is 13, but they have been as young as five.6

Why would a child sexually harm another?

Every child has unique reasons for behaving the way they do. There is no 'typical' young person with SHB. However, the majority of children the NSPCC sees have a history of some form of serious abuse, such as physical abuse, emotional abuse or neglect. A small percentage will have been sexually abused themselves. What these children will have in common is that these experiences have affected their view of themselves and other children.

Do children who display SHB become adult sex offenders?

Most young people who sexually harm do not go on to become adult sex offenders, but research shows that if they do not receive treatment they may continue to pose a risk to other children and some may well go on to abuse as adults. Early intervention and therapy work with the child and their family is very effective at changing SHB in children before it becomes entrenched, allowing them to develop into non-abusive members of the community.

The NSPCC's position on children who display SHB:

The NSPCC's work with children who display SHB makes an important contribution to its FULL STOP campaign to end child cruelty by helping to prevent child abuse.

It is important to recognise that though these children are carrying out unacceptable and often harmful behaviour, they are also vulnerable themselves with severe emotional difficulties. Their behaviour needs to be treated for both their and their victims? safety and wellbeing.

There is a lack of coordinated services for children with SHB in many parts of the UK. The NSPCC would like to see government, at both national and regional level, put in place and fund a nation-wide network of assessment and treatment centres for children and young people who display SHB.

Early intervention is key and the NSPCC wants to see training for teachers, doctors and other professionals so they can identify sexually abusive behaviour as early as possible and act on their concerns.

NSPCC SHB services:

The NSPCC is leading the way in developing and providing services to assess and treat children with SHB.

There are 24 NSPCC SHB services located in England, Wales and Northern Ireland providing assessment and intervention practices that encourage children with SHB to accept responsibility for their abusive behaviour and prevent further incidents.

Young people who display SHB can be referred to the NSPCC by a variety of sources including social services, the courts, school, the families of those involved and on some occasions the young person themselves.

The shortage in SHB provision in the UK and the excellent reputation of the NSPCC?s work in this field has resulted in a high demand for its SHB services.

Working in partnership with the local statutory services the NSPCC identifies the appropriate response and action for each individual case. This would include the level of risk to victims and the level of support required to manage the young person's behaviour.

Between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 there were 2241 requests to the NSPCC SHB services. Of those, it was appropriate for 655 children from five to seventeen years of age to receive therapeutic services from the NSPCC. The cost of running the NSPCC's SHB services was nearly four and a half million pounds in the year 2005/06.

Sources:

1. Cawson et al., 2000; Horne et al., 1991; Kelly et al., 1991; Morrison, 1999; Royal Belfast Hospital and Queen's University of Belfast, 1991 cited in Lovell, 2002, Children and young people who display sexually harmful behaviour, NSPCC

2 Home Office, 2004, Criminal Statistics England and Wales 2003.

3. Children and young people who display sexually harmful behaviour Elizabeth Lovell NSPCC Public Policy Group January 2002.

4. (Cawson, 2002, Child Maltreatment in the Family: The Experience of a National Sample of Young People, NSPCC)

5. (Adolescent Sexual Offender Recividism, Worling and Curwen. Child Abuse and Neglect 24.7, 2000)

6. NSPCC