To Report Suspected Abuse Call DCYF at (800) 894-5533 - For Emergencies Dial 911

Youth with Problematic Sexualized Behavior

Improving our Response

A collaborative effort

 

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) reports Youth with Problematic Sexualized Behavior (YPSB) commit more than one third of sexual offenses committed against minors.

Reports from a NH assessment of the most significant areas of concern for Child Advocacy Centers statewide confirm that the inconsistent response to these cases is an area of concern for key stakeholders. In 2020, the NH Attorney General’s Office-Children’s Justice Act (CJA) provided grant funding for Dr. Wendy Walsh from the UNH Crimes Against Children Research Center to collaborate and explore YPSB cases in NH.

Dr. Walsh completed the project in June of 2021 and released the findings “Establishing a Consistent CAC/MDT Repsponse to Youth with Problematic Seuxlaized Behavior in NH”

The final report from Dr. Walsh confirmed that systems in NH are struggling to respond to this issue and made five recommendations to improve the response to YPSB cases.

Recommendations to Improve the Response to YPSB in New Hampshire

1. Educate all who are involved with youth exhibiting problematic seuxalized behaviors

2. Designate a lead agency for YPSB cases and have a response protocol in place

3. Create a committee focused on YPSB issues

4. Establish and expand mental health services for youth initiators and victims in YPSB cases

5. Establish and expand diversion programs to serve youth initiators in YPSB cases

Thank you

We would like to thank Dr. Wendy Walsh, PH.D., The UNH Crimes Against Children Research Center, NH Network of Child Advocacy Centers, NH Division of Youth and Families, and NH Division of Juvenile Justice for their contributions to this research. 

Support from the following grants make this training event possible. This program is supported in part by the US Department of Health & Human Services-Administration on Children, Youth and Families through the Children’s Justice Act Grant #G-018NHCJA1, which is administered by the New Hampshire Department of Justice.  This Traning represents 50% of the total costs.  The remaining 50% comes from other awards from Northeast Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (NRCAC) and unrestricted funds to the GSCA.

We would like to also thank the Attorney General’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect.