Children who exhibit problematic sexual behaviour in Bristol and South Gloucestershire are being targeted by a new £450,000 specialist treatment programme. Working with children between the ages of eight and 12, the programme will seek to improve their sexual health, and, as a result, the wellbeing of others whom these children could be harmful towards.
The North Bristol NHS Trust and Barnardo’s South West are launching the extended Be Safe Children’s Service, which has received £444,500 from the Big Lottery Realising Ambition fund to set up the programme. The sexually harmful behaviour of children can be directed towards other children and their parents or caregivers, often because the children have been the victim of abuse themselves.
For the last five years, the Be Safe Service has been delivering services to teenagers with concerning sexual behaviour and their families, but now the new funding has enabled the service to launch an intervention programme to work with younger children. According to Stephen Barry, a specialist clinician for the Be Safe Service, there is a significant gap in service for this age group, and the new service could really meet that need.
He commented, ‘We know that children who behave in a sexually harmful way towards other children are often victims of abuse themselves. This could be sexual, physical, emotional abuse, exposure to domestic abuse and/or neglect – although this is not always the case. It is important therefore that we work in partnership with other organisations to reach some of the most troubled young people in the community, identify harmful behaviour and provide the support and treatment needed to deal with it at an early stage’
The Oklahoma University Health Sciences Centre in America developed the programme, which works by providing cognitive behavioural and psychological treatment and support, in the hopes eliminating or reducing problematic sexual behaviour in children. In the UK, the programme is being run as part of the Children’s Community Health Partnership.
Annie Hudson, Bristol City Council strategic director for children and young people, noted, ‘Be Safe is a tried and trusted service for professionals who work with children to make referrals when young people show worrying sexual behaviour. By extending the service to younger children we now have greater opportunities to tackle the issue early in life to help prevent problems later on.’
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