Protecting Your Child's Safety on the Internet

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The net is a wonderful place where your children can learn and explore the world. However there are individuals who attempt to sexually exploit children through the use of the web. In the same manner that these individuals gradually make contact with children in the real world, these individuals gradually get closer to children online. These individuals listen to and empathize with the problems of children. They display the same interests as children, i.e., their music, their favorite pastimes and interests.

In some cases they pretend that they are children. This is easily done on the net because you cannot be sure with whom you are dealing on the internet.

Gradually they introduce sexual context to children through the delivery of child pornography and through the subject matter of their conversations.

Here are some signs to look for:

  • Your child spends many hours online especially in chat rooms. Even though many chat rooms are fine, chat rooms provide a suitable forum in which sex offenders can search for victims.

  • Your child becomes withdrawn from the family. Sex offenders will try to create problems between a child and his or her family and try to develop a relationship between the offender and the child.

  • Your child has pornography on your hard drive or saved on disk. Sex offenders will introduce pornography as a means of establishing that sexual contact between child and adults is acceptable.

  • Your child receives calls from someone you don't know. A sex offender will try to make phone contact to further the relationship with the child with the ultimate goal of meeting that child face to face.

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