Signs of pressure
- Contact must stay secret.
- The person calls the child mature for their age.
- The chat moves to a private app.
- They ask for images, school or address.
What you can do
- Listen and give your child time to explain in their own words.
- Note the username, platform and time, and keep messages containing pressure or threats. Do not forward intimate images. Ask a specialist support service or the police how to preserve evidence if the messages also contain intimate images.
- Help your child end contact if it is safe to do so.
Avoid
- Listen first, without blaming or shaming your child.
- Do not forward private messages, intimate images or explicit screenshots.
- No app can protect against everything. Do not promise that it can.
For parents
- Make clear that your child can get help even if they have broken an agreement.
- Ask what happened without pushing for every detail.
- Help end contact if needed and find someone you can ask for advice.