A charity which provides services to people affected by child sexual abuse says they supported 1,054 children last year.
In its annual report, CARI says it dealt with 807 calls to its helpline concerning sexual assault, rape and sexualised behaviour - a third of which (34%) related to children under 10 years of age.
It also carried out 2,000 therapy sessions with children and parents in 2018, and supported 90 children through criminal trials.
The organisation offers a Child Accompaniment Support Service (CASS) to support children and families during criminal proceedings and children's forensic medical exams.
According to the charity, their forensic accompaniment service has shown that the younger the child is, the more likely it is that the alleged offender is a family member.
For teenagers, the alleged offender is more likely to be outside the family - noting that many teenagers presented with a "concern of sexual abuse after a social event with groups of peers".
Speaking about the figures, CARI executive director Eve Farrelly said a lack of resources means 83 children in need of help sit on a waiting list.
She observed: "It's our experience and our belief that timely and right intervention for children with this particular type of experience is paramount.
"Children who can get the timely and right intervention can go on to develop the capacity to manage their life issues - they can recover from their trauma.
"It is unacceptable that CARI continues to have children sit on our waiting list because we do not have the resources that will enable children to get quicker access to us.’
She added that their support programme is for children giving witness testimony in relation to any crime - and that they supported children during cases such as tiger kidnappings, domestic violence, physical assault and neglect.
