How do I protect my child from being groomed?
- Keep personal information private.
- Privacy settings.
- Reviewing apps, site, apps, and games they use.
- Know who their friends are.
- Stay safe online and in real life.
- Encourage children to talk to someone.
Signs of Grooming
- The person becomes withdrawn, or they may seem troubled by something but unwilling to talk about it.
- You notice them using or wearing something new, that you didn't buy for them.
- Groomers often aim to isolate their targets from their family or friends.
What to do if you think you're being groomed
- Ask the person to stop. As a first step, you might want to deal with the situation yourself.
- Download our App. You can also download our Zipit app.
- Tell an adult you trust. If the groomer keeps talking to you, it may be best to tell an adult you trust or report them.
- Report it.
The Six Stages of Sexual Grooming
- Stage 1: Targeting a Victim.
- Stage 2: Gaining Trust.
- Stage 3: Filling a Need.
- Stage 4: Isolating the Child.
- Stage 5: Sexual Contact.
- Stage 6: Maintaining Control.
Six common grooming behaviors that every parent needs to know:
- Forming Relationships. Perpetrators seek to form relationships with children.
- Testing Boundaries. Perpetrators will try to test the boundaries of your child's comfort levels.
- Touching.
- Intimidating.
- Sharing Sexually Explicit Material.
- Communicating Secretly.
What is Grooming? Grooming is the predatory act of maneuvering another individual into a position that makes them more isolated, dependent, likely to trust, and more vulnerable to abusive behavior. The goal is to prepare the other person for abuse (for example sexual or financial) at a later time.
It is an offence for an adult to intentionally procure a child for unlawful sexual activity. It is also an offence to engage in behaviour that grooms a child for the purpose of making it easier to procure that child for unlawful sexual activity.
Grooming plays a major role in maintaining a high self-esteem and self-confidence. It does this by influencing your appearance, which in turn affects the way you regard yourself. When your hair looks neat and beautiful, and your gel manicure is still intact, you can observe how your confidence will rise.
The sooner you contact your local children's social care duty team, the quicker they can act. They're available 24 hours a day, and can make an anonymous report if that feels safer.
How to raise a safeguarding concern
- in an emergency, contact the police, tel: 999.
- if the person is not in immediate danger, contact the police, tel: 101.
If you do choose to go this route, you should know there are typically several options to make an anonymous report:
- Visit a police website. Most police departments provide a link on their website that allows you to email an anonymous report.
- Call the police hotline.
- Use a public phone.
For assistance in reporting, call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453. Some professionals are required by law to report suspicions of child abuse or neglect, including educational neglect.
Signs of grooming in children aged 0-11 yearshas unexplained gifts like new toys or clothes. doesn't want to talk about where the gifts came from. is getting lots of messages from someone they only know online. talks a lot about a particular adult or older child or wants to spend a lot of time with them.
These are some typical methods online predators use: Find kids through social networking, blogs, chat rooms (even monitored, kids chat rooms), instant messaging, e-mail, and other Web sites, often using information in their targets' personal profiles.
What should I do if my child encounters an online predator?
- Save or take screenshots of messages (do not delete them)
- Block the offender.
- Report the offender on any platform where they engaged with your child.
- Report the offender to local authorities and/or NCMEC's CyberTipline.
Talking to kids about online predators
- Avoid using suggestive screen names or photos.
- If someone is flattering you online, you should be wary.
- Don't talk to anyone who wants to get too personal.
- Keep in mind that people are not always who they say they are.
- Never arrange to meet with someone you met online.
Analogous to how a predator hunts down its prey, so the sexual predator is thought to "hunt" for his or her sex partners. People who commit sex crimes, such as rape or child sexual abuse, are commonly referred to as sexual predators, particularly in tabloid media or as a power phrase by politicians.
the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command
Childline Supporting children for over 30 years. Our Childline service is there to give young people a voice when no one else is listening. Whatever problems or dangers they're facing, we're a place for them to turn for support – any time of day or night.
The Click CEOP button is an asset of the National Crime Agency's CEOP Command. It also provides access to an online mechanism for reporting known or suspected child sexual exploitation or child sexual abuse directly to CEOP.
The CEOP Ambassador course is a one day course delivered by the CEOP Education Team. It focuses on the protection of children and young people from online sexual abuse and exploitation. The CEOP Ambassador course is supplementary to any statutory Child Protection training.
Public enquiries. For general enquiries please email or call 0370 496 7622 .
