The All Party Parliamentary Group for Children by Alison Linsey Keeping Parliamentarians Informed: Sexually Harmful Behaviour On 23 May the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children (APPGC) held a meeting on the topic “Children and young people who display sexually harmful behaviour”. In 2002 the APPGC had looked at the needs of young people displaying sexually harmful behaviour, and the services available to help them. This meeting in 2005 aimed to revisit the issue, looking at some evidence of the extent of the problem, and hearing from both preventative services and those providing treatment. The APPGC was privileged to hear from four experts: Chris Atkinson, Policy Adviser, NSPCC Tink Palmer, Director, Stop it Now! Carole Easton, Chief Executive, ChildLine Pam Hibbert, Principal Policy Officer, Barnardo’s Chris provided a brief update on what had happened since 2002; she concluded by saying that there are two main areas where work is needed: Where children are required to register on the sex offender register, if their case has gone through the criminal justice route rather than the child protection route, so that treatment might not be triggered. On the emergence of new technologies as a method of displaying sexually harmful behaviour, for example by downloading pictures from the internet. Tink spoke about the calls Stop it Now! receives which come from: - adults concerned about other adults’ behaviour, - adults concerned about their own behaviour (the largest percentage of calls), and - parents, carers or anyone working with young people concerned about a young person’s behaviour (only 5% of their calls). Tink spoke about a case study from 2001 where a 13-year-old boy had downloaded images from the internet. There were no counter-indicators that he would have been a cause for concern – he had good relationships with his parents, peers and school. Tink spoke with the police officer involved in the case about the evidence from the boy’s computer. It appeared that he had started downloading adult porn, then moved on to look at children his own age, and then children as young as six months old. Part of the treatment process was to undo this fantasy. Carole spoke about ChildLine’s callers on this issue which include young people who had experienced sexual abuse, third party callers calling about someone they knew experiencing sexual abuse or abusing young people, and a small number of young people concerned about their own sexually abusive behaviour. ChildLine have produced a briefing paper on this issue , which provides statistics from their calls but also short quotes about cases. For example: An 11-year-old girl called because her 14-year-old brother had gone into her room ‘again’ the night before, pinned her down and had sex with her. She said she could not tell anyone else, as her brother had threatened to do it more and ‘it hurt’. A 13-year-old boy spoke to a counsellor for 26 minutes. He said he needed help. He had been abusing a girl he babysat. He was putting his hands up her skirt and ‘playing between her legs’. It had been going on for three weeks and he wanted help to stop – he had also done this to another child. His mum’s best friend did it to him, but he had never told anyone about that, or about what he had done or was doing to others. Pam also provided two case studies illustrating the differences between those children whose case is identified by welfare agencies and those whose case goes through the criminal justice system. She then concluded by giving four national recommendations: Central Government guidance on children and young people who abuse should be reviewed in England and Wales to make it clearer. Joint guidance should also be developed by the Home Office, Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health to take account of the Children Act 2004. Guidance on best practice based on research evidence should be produced for those working with children and young people who display sexually harmful behaviour. A national strategy linked to the National Service Framework should be developed to ensure services are developed that are both comprehensive and ‘tiered’. Research should be commissioned into the effectiveness of services, taking into account the views of service users, their families and carers. Future meetings The Officers of the APPGC have decided the remit of the Group’s work programme for the forthcoming year. The Group will, as usual, hold meetings focused on legislation relevant to children, for example on the Children and Adoption Bill, Education Bill etc.. The remainder of the Group’s focus will mainly be on the implementation of Every Child Matters and the Children Act 2004. This will include hearing from the new Children’s Commissioner for England, Professor Al Aynsley-Green, the development of children’s trusts, and progress on information sharing. The APPGC will also hold three topic-based meetings, one on each of the following subjects: children’s rights in practice, child health, and youth justice. Please contact Alison Linsey, Clerk to the Group (email: alinsey@ncb.org.uk): • To be added to the email mailing list to receive minutes and notices of meetings • For copies of minutes from any of the meetings • For a free copy of the Group’s report ‘Commitment to Children’ • For any further information about the Group

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