This shock trend has emerged over the past few years, with growing numbers of children under the age of 12 displaying ‘€œinappropriate, sexualised behaviour’€, says Childline KwaZulu-Natal director Linda Naidoo.

‘€œIn the past, the authorities charged adult abusers but just scolded child offenders, who sometimes grew up to become abusive adults. Now cases are also being opened against child offenders,’€ she says.

Childline KZN is the only one of the country’€™s eight Childlines that works with both offenders and those who have been abused.

‘€œMany offenders are referred to us because no one else provides therapy for them,’€ says Naidoo.

Seventy percent of the child offenders the organisation counsels have been exposed to domestic violence, she says.

‘€œSometimes their mother is being abused and they are powerless to protect her. They channel this powerlessness into aggression and wanting control over others in other situations,’€ says Naidoo.

Other child offenders face peer pressure to have sex, and are both unsupervised and lack parental moral guidance.

Some 88% of child sex offenders had been exposed to pornography.

Less than a fifth of Childline’€™s cases involved paedophiles ‘€“ adults who can only relate sexually to children.

‘€œThese are the most difficult to catch because they spend a long time grooming a child, and creating a dependence on them,’€ says Naidoo. ‘€œOne of our recent cases involved a man who had groomed a boy for sex from the time he was 8 until he turned 13.’€

For the past 20 years, Childline has been the only organisation in the province to offer a unique range of services aimed at helping children to deal with abuse.

Childline’€™s crisis helpline deals with over 24 000 calls every month from people seeking help for a range of problems including sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, abandonment, Satanism and bullying.

Not only children make the calls. Parents, relatives and adults who were abused as children also ask for help.

‘€œAlmost 80% of our caseload deals with sexual abuse,’€ says Naidoo. ‘€œIt was not our intention to focus on sexual abuse to this extent, but there is so much need and no one else does it.’€

Yet despite being one of the country’€™s oldest child rights organisations, the organisation battles along on a tiny budget.

Since 1994, many international donors have opted to channel their money through government departments and little of this has filtered back to Childline with only two of its offices being subsidised by the provincial Department of Social Development.

Other donors have chosen to focus on HIV/AIDS, despite the fact that many of Childline’€™s little clients are vulnerable AIDS orphans who have been abused since the death of their parents.

‘€œSix months ago, I really thought we were going to have to close. But we managed to get some funds. I need to get someone to help me with my marketing, but there is just so much to do,’€ says Naidoo.

She oversees 22 fulltime staff, mostly social workers, and 49 counsellors who run the 24-hour helpline. Retaining staff, particularly social workers, is a constant struggle as the organisation cannot pay competitive salaries.

Callers to the helpline are often referred to counsellors spread out in 14 offices throughout the province, although a child may phone the Helpline a number of times before they are ready to go to an office near their home.

Three satellite offices have also been set up in the Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Verulam courts to help children prepare for cases against their abusers, with almost 2 500 people being helped in this way last year.

But, admits Naidoo, staff shortages mean that some of those seeking help sometimes fall through the cracks.

‘€œThe job is overwhelming and most of it is heart-wrenching. But there is so much we can do for kids. That is so rewarding, if only we have enough resources,’€ says Naidoo, who has three of her own children. ‘€“ Health-e News Service.

* Contact the Childline helpline on 08000 55 555 or the office on 031 312 0904.