SAFE CHURCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE
22 May 2023
The Safe Church Advisory Committee (“SCAC”) (and the CRCA) are committed to demonstrate our care and respect for every child and vulnerable person by taking all possible steps to protect them from abuse of every kind.
It is in this context that we considered passing on some of the important points raised by a recent press release from the Australian Federal Police (‘AFP”) entitled “Online safety reminder as AFP reveals extent of young children posting sexually explicit content.”
Some of the points made in the AFP press release included the following:
- the AFP led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) is urging parents to supervise children online and discuss online safety, revealing for the first time the volume of sexually explicit content produced and posted online by children with no adult criminality involved.
- ACCCE receives on average, five to ten reports EVERY WEEK about children as young as five who had filmed or photographed themselves naked, sometimes displaying sexually explicit behaviour, and posting the content online, without adult criminality or involvement. These reports of uploaded videos or images to social media platforms increase by up to 20 per cent after school holidays, when children had spent more time online.
- Often, this occurs by accident and done from a parent’s phone or computer left unattended as reported by the AFP child protection investigators who conduct welfare checks on families about photos or videos showing a child naked or displaying sexually explicit behaviour. These instances are flagged by social media platforms and reported. In a lot of these cases, parents are not aware what their child has done, the only warning may be a social media account being shut down.
- It is important that parents lock shared devices and supervise their children while they are online as images taken and shares unintentionally can and do reach the hands of sex offenders who often visit popular social media platforms looking for self-produced content and share it with other offenders or may even try to contact the child to groom them to create even more extreme content.
- Please remind children about what content is appropriate to share online, and to ALWAYS seek help from a trusted adult if something makes them feel unsafe or uncomfortable.
- Parents, caregivers and the community are the first line of defence when it comes to protecting children and supervision is critical to prevent an incident and ensures immediate action if their child needs help.
- the press release refers to the following resources for families and children relating to internet safety: ThinkUKnow.org.au/resources and ACCCE’s recently launched children’s book “Jack Changes the Game” available at www.thinkuknow.org.au/resources-tab/parents-and-carers. According to the AFP press release, the e-book is for five- to eight-year-olds and comes with learning activities to help reinforce safety messages.
SCAC exists to assist our churches protect and care for the young and vulnerable in our church. Our committee is ready to assist churches with any issues they may have in this regard.
Kindest Regards
John Van Dijk
National ChildSafe Administrator
E:
P: 0419 330 003