Skip to content
You are here: Home | Children and young people | For professionals | Harmful sexual behaviour

Harmful sexual behaviour

Not all sexual behaviour in children and young people is problematic or harmful; some sexual behaviour is part of healthy development. Sometimes it can be difficult to differentiate between what is developmentally appropriate and what is concerning.

Harmful sexual behaviours (HSB) is defined in the Swindon Safeguarding Partnership Harmful Sexual Behaviour Protocol as: 

  • sexual behaviours expressed by children and young people under the age of 18 years old that are developmentally inappropriate, may be harmful towards self or others, or be abusive towards another child, young person or adult. (Derived from Hackett, 2014). This could include: 
    • contact behaviours, for example, touching, masturbation, penetration 
    • non-contact behaviours, for example, grooming, exhibitionism, voyeurism  
    • technology assisted/online behaviours, for example, sexting, distributing images, accessing indecent images of children, abusing children online 

The above definition is deliberately broad and encourages an appropriate response at all levels, including preventative, early intervention and specialist responses. 

Children who harm others (including sexually) are likely to have considerable needs themselves. Evidence suggests these children may have suffered harm themselves, had significant disruption in their lives, been exposed to violence within the family, may have witnessed or been subject to physical or sexual abuse, have problems in their educational development and may have committed other offences.

Children and young people who display harmful sexual behaviour should be held responsible for their behaviour, while being identified and responded to in a way that meets their needs as well as protecting others. 

Technology assisted HSB is defined as: 

  • one or more children engaging in sexual discussions or acts, using the internet and/or any image-creating, sharing or communication device, which is considered inappropriate and/or harmful given their age or stage of development. This behaviour falls on a continuum of severity from the use of pornography to online child sexual abuse and may include: 
    • developmentally inappropriate use of pornography 
    • sexual harassment 
    • grooming 
    • sending sexual texts, including sexting, with or without images 
    • exposing other children and young people to pornography (NSPCC 2017) 

Further information and guidance can be found in Section 1 of the Swindon Safeguarding Partnership Harmful Sexual Behaviour Protocol

Identification of harmful sexual behaviour 

Identification of HSB at an early stage is crucial as intervention is effective in preventing further sexual behaviour from occurring and can consequently prevent future criminalisation of young people.

Factors to consider when assessing risk from HSB:

  • Likelihood of future contact between the child or young person affected by the behaviour and child or young person displaying the behaviour
  • HSB can occur between siblings and it is crucial to understand the inner conflict parents will be struggling to resolve between needing to support both child or young person displaying the behaviour and the child or young person affected by the behaviour living in the same household
  • If HSB occurred between peers or separated siblings, then consider where contact might occur, for example, do they live in the same neighbourhood or attend the same schools? In addition, how this can be made safe, ensuring no contact in break times or separate classes.
  • The level of harm posed during the harmful sexual behaviour. The Hackett Continuum should be used to assist in understanding HSB on a spectrum. For a behaviour to be considered “exploratory”, all children and young people involved must be of similar age and intellectual ability, there be no coercion involved, no real or perceived inequality, for example, by virtue of peer status or authority and all of the child and young people involved consented.
  • HSB rarely occurs in isolation, a wide array of factors impacts on a young person’s likelihood to display further harmful sexual behaviour. Exposure to domestic abuse, social isolation, residing in families, which are highly dysfunctional with parents or carers who do not address their own traumas or support interventions, are amongst a wide array of factors, which increase the likelihood of future harmful sexual behaviours.
  • Consider strengths within the family unit. A child or young person within a family whom accepts but do not justify the child and young person’s harmful sexual behaviour, are willing to engage in interventions and adhere to safety planning is more likely to disengage from future harmful sexual behaviours. Similarly, a child or young person affected by the behaviour needs a family or network who believes them and are willing to support them.
  • Consideration should be given to contextual safeguarding concerns and extra-familial harm, including considering impact of peer relationships on the child or young person’s harmful sexual behaviour

All agencies initial contact 

When concerns come to your attention about a child or young person’s sexual behaviour, several factors need to be considered to determine whether harmful sexual behaviour has taken place: 

  • Absence of consent, the presence of power imbalance and exploitation 
  • The nature of the relationship between the child or young person displaying the behaviour having authority over the victim 
  • Age inappropriate sexual behaviour 
  • Frequency and period of time the sexual activity has occurred 
  • The child or young person’s perception of the sexual behaviour 
  • Secrecy 
  • Use of force, coercion, threats 
  • Age difference, particularly if one child is pre-pubescent 
  • Differences in developmental abilities 
  • Risks for both the child harmed and the child who has harmed, with particular consideration to risk of escalation through social media 

Resources to assist in decision making

Table of definitions

Further information about Hackett’s continuum Understanding sexualised behaviour in children includes short video clips about each of the behaviours. 

Once the level of concern has been identified, see the flow chart below for appropriate action and refer to Section 2.3 Swindon Safeguarding Partnership Harmful Sexual Behaviour Protocol

Chart with list of identified behaviours

You can also refer to the Protocol for further information on the following:

  • Section 3: Information for education settings
  • Section 4: Provides addition information about
    • factors to consider when assessing risk from HSB
    • appropriate levels of intervention
    • Children and Families Contact Swindon response to children and young people who experienced sexual abuse
    • disclosures of non-recent sexual abuse
  • Section 5: Details further action which may be taken, which includes single or support assessment 
  • Section 6: Specific assessments - AIM U12 or AIM3
    • AIM3 assessment panel will make a decision if a child meets the threshold for an AIM3 assessment and if this is appropriate. Both areas in the Hackett’s continuum (orange and red) will be considered, along with further details of the child’s family functioning, child development and other areas about the child.
    • Children and Families Contact Swindon must be contacted via the request for help and support process and they will assess if a further AIM3 referral is to be submitted by the social worker to the panel
  • Section 7: Refers to the criminal justice route

SSP resources

SSP webpages

Additional resources