Partners collaborate to address sexualised behaviour in young people
A new collaborative project has seen partners come together to protect and support children and young people by addressing sexualised behaviour at an early stage.
Partners in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) area have come together to launch the Harmful Sexual Behaviour Framework under the banner of the ‘Do It Right’ campaign.
The project aims to recognise and address harmful sexualised behaviour in children and young people with the aim of giving them the right support and protection at an early stage to avoid unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice system.
The importance of this early intervention is being highlighted as partners mark Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week, which runs from Monday 2 February to Sunday 9 February 2026.
The scheme brings together key partners including Safer BCP, Dorset Police, BCP Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, STARS Dorset, and other local agencies.
The detailed framework has been created to assist professionals to recognise the signs of harmful sexualised behaviour, understand how and where to report concerns and know how to access specialist advice and support.
A launch event held at The Village Hotel in Bournemouth saw more than 150 professionals from across the education sector and various agencies come together to learn more about the project and the way forward.
The event included inputs from Detective Inspector Stefanie Belton from Dorset Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Team (CAIT), Stephanie Lee STARS Dorset's Engagement Team Leader, Tina Symington Community Safety Manager for BCP as well as the new HSB Project Worker Laura Osborne, who is based within STARS Dorset’s engagement team, and also included a training input from DG Etali, funded by the BCP Community Safety Partnership.
DI Belton, of CAIT, said: “We recognise that if signs of harmful sexualised behaviour emerge during adolescence and are not addressed, they can escalate into more serious offending behaviour later in life.
“This is an important piece of work that we have embarked upon with partners to ensure we are joined up in our approach to tackling harmful sexualised behaviour, with a joint approach and clear pathway helping all agencies to recognise this behaviour and respond appropriately.
“By working together and intervening early, we can ensure children and young people get the right protection and support and through this avoid unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice system.”
Stephanie Lee, STARS Dorset’s Engagement Team Leader, said: “STARS Dorset are incredibly proud to be part of this project and we hope this will enable young people to have easier access to support and education around relationships and sex education.”
Under the framework, referrals around the topic of consent will be commencing from Monday 16 February 2026, with documentation available at Do it right - healthy relationships start with real talk | Safeguarding Children Partnership
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