A Hamilton child advocacy organisation is concerned at an emerging trend of children presenting with "highly sexualised behaviour".
Parentline chief executive Cathy Holland said while the number of referrals it received was up slightly on what it would normally see, the "nature and degree of inappropriateness" was the most alarming aspect.
Ms Holland said of particular concern was the number of preschool-aged children displaying disturbing behaviours.
In the past three months, Parentline has received and is working with seven referrals for children aged 4-5 and four children aged 8-12. One Parentline case worker is assigned to the 11 cases.
"The children are presenting with bizarre, extraordinary, out of the norm behaviour. We have had an influx of referrals for under-5s who are presenting with disturbing behaviour - it's quite explicit."
Ms Holland said because pre-schoolers' language skills weren't yet developed enough to articulate where the inappropriate behaviour may have stemmed from, the organisation used art and play therapy to try to determine a link.
"We know that sexualised behaviour is learned behaviour; where a child has either observed inappropriate behaviour or has been involved in inappropriate sexual behaviour. Problematic sexualised behaviour differs from 'experimental' and 'normal' sexualised behaviour that is age and developmentally appropriate."
The children who had come to the attention of Parentline were from across the socio-economic spectrum and weren't all necessarily from homes where children could be classified as vulnerable.
The referrals had come from concerned parents, Child Youth and Family, and two were from early childhood education centres, supported by parents.
"We have parents coming in who are at a loss as to where their children have picked these behaviours up from. There are parents who are more concerned and motivated to understand the behaviour.
"As professional practitioners, we know the behaviours and signs to look for and we try to uncover if something has happened to the child. We also offer programmes talking to communities and parents in particular about what signs to look for, what behaviours should put you on alert."
Parentline wasn't always able to identify a source of abuse from the work it conducted with a child. In those cases a safety plan was developed for the child and the family home. "The most important thing is to put parents on alert and develop the safety plan. If we're not able to identify an abuser, the safety plan means that wherever that child goes they can guarantee they are safe. In terms of the child, it's about noting the behaviour and making sure the parents have the skills to deal with the situation."
Ms Holland said Parentline would examine the trend with other organisations and look to further research the reasons behind it.
She said Parentline, which sees about 600 children each year, had recently been approached by Safe Network with a view to working together. Safe Network works with the perpetrators of sexual abuse. While Ms Holland said the working relationship was in its infancy, it made sense that the two organisations collaborate.
Early childhood education centres are not required to report stand-downs to the Ministry of Education.
"If any parent, member of the public, or ECE service has any concerns about the safety and wellbeing of their children then we expect them to let us know and we will investigate," said Karl Le Quesne, Ministry of Education early childhood education group manager. "This could involve the Police or CYF. Every ECE service must have procedures in place to protect all their children."
SAFETY PROGRAMME
Parentline runs Keeping Ourselves Safe - a personal safety programme that aims to provide children and their parents/caregivers with skills to cope with situations that might involve abuse.
The programme comprises five sessions for children aged 5-13. Parents or caregivers attend with their children.
Keeping Ourselves Safe teaches children a range of safe practices they can use when interacting with other people; encourages children who have been, or are being, abused to seek help; and contributes to an overall community abuse prevention programme by making parents more aware of their responsibilities to keep children safe from all forms of abuse.