Connected Kids: A Comprehensive Guide to Ensuring
Online Safety
and Well-being
This guide has been written to help adults who live, or work directly, with children and young people to support them to be safe and happy online.
The guide aims to support parents, carers, educators, and any other adult who has a duty of care towards children to better understand, prevent, and, if needed, respond to online abuse, including sexual harassment, grooming, sexual abuse and exploitation, image-based abuse, and others. This guide provides adults with tips on how to discuss internet safety and some difficult topics with children, how to ensure a climate of trust so that children can go to them if they have encountered something wrong online, and how to recognise abuse and seek help if needed.
What's inside?
Explore each chapter of the guide or download the full guide here
Supporting children to be safe and happy online
Starting with the positives
Putting young people at the heart of online safety support
Talking with young people about internet use
Definitions of key words and phrases related to online risk
Finding the words
Tackling challenging topics
Recognising signs of online abuse
Supporting a child who has disclosed online abuse to you
Reporting cases of online abuse
Key online safety messages to share with children
Where to go for help
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Abous us
ICMEC The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) is an international NGO headquartered in the US, and we envision a world where every child can grow up safe from exploitation, sexual abuse, or risk of going missing. For over 25 years, we have been a leader in identifying gaps in the global community’s ability to protect children from abduction, sexual abuse and exploitation, and expertly assembling the people, resources and tools needed to fill those gaps.
Our mission is to safeguard vulnerable children by:
- Powering the global search for children who are missing,
- Defending children from sexual abuse by disrupting the economics and mechanics of exploitation,
- Training frontline professionals to prevent and respond to cases of child exploitation.
We conduct research and develop capacity building activities such as training, technology and legal protocols to support international stakeholders (governments, law enforcement, policy-makers, educators, medical professionals, NGOs, and many others) to support them in better protecting children against child sexual abuse and exploitation, and respond to missing children reports. You can read more on ICMEC on our website: www.icmec.org
Trafficking of human beings (THB) and child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSA/ CSE) are two big problems in our society. Inadvertently, new information and communication technologies (ICTs) have provided a space for these problems to develop and take new forms, made worse by the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, technical and legal tools available to stakeholders that prevent, investigate and assist victims — such as law enforcement agencies (LEAs), prosecutors, judges and civil society organisations (CSOs) — fail to keep up with the pace at which criminals use new technologies to continue their abhorrent acts. Furthermore, assistance to victims of THB and CSA/CSE is often limited by the lack of coordination among these stakeholders. In this sense, there is a clear and vital need for joint work methodologies and the development of new strategies for approaching and assisting victims. In addition, due to the cross-border nature of these crimes, harmonisation of legal frameworks from each of the affected countries is necessary for creating bridges of communication and coordination among all those stakeholders to help victims and reduce the occurrence of these horrendous crimes. To address these challenges, the HEROES project provides an ambitious, interdisciplinary, international and victim-centred approach. The HEROES project is structured as a comprehensive solution that encompasses three main components: Prevention, Investigation and Victim assistance. Through these components, our solution aims to establish a coordinated contribution with LEAs by developing an appropriate, victim-centred approach that is capable of addressing specific needs and providing protection. The HEROES project’s main objective is to use technology to improve the way help and support can be provided to victims of THB and CSA/ CSE. Moreover, the HEROES project will establish new innovative strategies that in the short, medium and long term will improve the way in which LEAs and CSOs carry out criminal investigations, assist rescued victims and prevent the occurrence of these crimes. You can read more about HEROES on our website.