Child Sexual Abuse

The following definition comes from the NSPCC website:

A child is sexually abused when they are forced or persuaded to take part in sexual activities. This doesn't have to be physical contact and it can happen online. Often the child will not understand that they are being abused or that the behaviour is wrong.

There are two different types of child sexual abuse. These are called contact abuse and non-contact abuse.

Contact abuse involves touching activities where an abuser makes physical contact with a child, including penetration. It includes:

• Sexual touching of any part of the body, whether the child's wearing clothes or not;

• Rape or penetration by putting an object or body part inside a child's mouth, vagina, or anus;

• Forcing or encouraging a child to take part in sexual activity;

• Making a child take their clothes off, touch someone else's genitals, or masturbate.

Non-contact abuse involves non-touching activities, such as grooming, exploitation, persuading children to perform sexual acts over the internet, and flashing. It includes:

• Encouraging a child to watch or hear sexual acts;

• Not taking proper measures to prevent a child being exposed to sexual activities by others;

• Meeting a child following sexual grooming with the intent of abusing them;

• Online abuse including making, viewing, or distributing child abuse images;

• Allowing someone else to make, view, or distribute child abuse images;

• Showing pornography to a child;

• Sexually exploiting a child for money, power, or status (child exploitation).

When sexual exploitation happens online, young people may be persuaded, or forced, to:

• Send or post sexually explicit images of themselves;

• Take part in sexual activities via a webcam or smartphone;

• Have sexual conversations by text or online.

Abusers may threaten to send images, video, or copies of conversations to the young person's friends and family unless they take part in other sexual activity. Images or videos may continue to be shared long after the sexual abuse has stopped.

Signs or indicators that a child may have been sexually abused include:

• Difficulty walking or sitting;

• Pain, itching, bleeding, bruising, discharge to the genital area or anus;

• Exhibits an inappropriate sexual knowledge for their age;

• Exhibits sexualised behaviour in their play or with other children;

• Urinary infections, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy;

• Persistent sore throats;

• Eating disorders, self-harm;

• Refuses to change for gym or participate in physical activities;

• Lack of peer relationships, sleep disturbance, acute anxiety and/or fear;

• School refusal, running away from home;

• Appearing frightened of certain individuals or unwilling to be left alone with certain individuals;

• Becoming sexually active at a young age.

NSPCC, Sexual abuse

Sutton LSCP, Multi-Agency Protocol for Child Sexual Abuse