Contact abuse is where an abuser makes physical contact with a child. This includes:

• sexual touching of any part of a child’s body, whether they are clothed or not
• using a body part or object to rape or penetrate a child
• forcing a child to take part in sexual activities
• making a child undress or touch someone else

Contact abuse can include touching, kissing and oral sex – sexual abuse is not just penetrative. In fact, penetrative abuse appears significantly less prevalent than other forms of CSA; but where it occurs, it is more likely to be repeated.

Non-contact abuse is where a child is abused without being touched by the abuser. This can be in person or online and includes:

• exposing or flashing
• showing pornography
• exposing a child to sexual acts
• making them masturbate
• forcing a child to make, view or share child abuse images or videos
• making, viewing, or distributing child abuse images or videos
• forcing a child to take part in sexual activities or conversations online or through a smartphone

Whilst this toolkit focuses on Intra-Familial Child Sexual abuse, we recognise that this sometimes takes place alongside extra-familial abuse.  We have therefore set out short accounts of some types of extra-familial child sexual abuse below.  For more information about working with these forms of abuse, please see the new Dorset Extra-Familial Harm Toolkit (replacing the previous Dorset Child Exploitation toolkit)

Child sexual exploitation – is a form of child sexual abuse. The exploitation usually takes the form of young people being given things in exchange for sexual activities; this can include gifts, drugs, or money, but can also include status or perceived affection. Many young people who are sexually exploited will not recognise this exploitation or abuse and will see themselves as being in a loving and consensual relationship. Young people can be sexually exploited within gangs, individually or online.

Gang sexual exploitation – Gangs use sexual violence to humiliate and degrade young people in order to gain power and control and for the purpose of initiation. Young people may be invited to gatherings with others to use drugs and alcohol and may then experience sexual abuse from one or multiple abusers. It can be extremely difficult for young people to escape gangs due to the level of fear and intimidation they experience.

Online sexual exploitation and abuse – can involve children and young people being persuaded or coerced into sexual conversations, sharing sexually explicit pictures of themselves, or filming sexual acts. Abusers can use this information to further coerce and control the young person through feelings of shame, threats of harm or sharing information further online or with people they know. Online sexual exploitation may lead to face-to-face contact and further sexual abuse. If you are concerned that a child is being sexually exploited online, or you are aware of an adult perpetrating sexual abuse online, please report this to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP) via CEOP Safety Centre

Child to Child sexual abuse – involves children or young people that are of similar age and stage of development and can include sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape. It is important that any reports of sexual harassment or sexual harm between peers are taken seriously, as dismissing this as ‘banter’ or ‘children being children’ can lead to a culture of normalising harmful sexual behaviours (please see link here to the PDSCP procedures on harmful sexual behaviour). Sibling abuse is a form of child to-child abuse.

Part five of Keeping Children Safe in Education (DfE, 2024) gives guidance on how both the victim and alleged perpetrator should be supported by education settings following an allegation of sexual violence or sexual harassment.

Education colleagues can also contact their school’s Safeguarding Education Adviser for support and guidance if they are unsure how to manage a safeguarding matter or need advice. They are based in Dorset Children’s Services and can be contacted via qapaudits@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk or call 01305 221122.

The Pan-Dorset Safeguarding Children’s Partnership has developed child to child guidance which practitioners can utilise to support them in their practice in this area.

Contextual safeguarding – considers the wider contexts of child exploitation and other extra-familial harms and how these can be addressed to reduce risk of further exploitation within peer groups, locations, schools, and neighbourhoods. This approach enables child exploitation to be addressed and challenged more widely. The Extra-Familial Harm toolkit provides tools and guidance for this approach.

Where there are direct allegations of sexual assault, rape, or any other form of sexual violence to an individual young person or group it is essential that child safeguarding approaches are considered for each young person involved, alongside any contextual safeguarding approach being taken.

Practice Tip

Remember any incident of suspected abuse should be referred following the procedures on the PDSCP website.

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