Instant Messenger
What if you suspect your child has become a victim?
Should any of the following situations arise in your household, via the Internet or on-line service, you should immediately contact your local or state law enforcement agency, the FBI, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:
If you suspect your child is in contact with a pederast, a child molester or predator, here are some simple steps to get your juices flowing to give you some ideas and what you should do or where you should start. The last thing you want to do is to express fear. Fear may come off to the child as anger and further victimize them and push them away and into the claws of evil. Be gentle to your child, be candid and sound routine no matter your urge to express your true emotions
Your child or anyone in the household has received child pornography |
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| Your child has been sexually solicited by someone who knows that your child is under 18 years of age |
| Your child has received sexually explicit images from someone that knows your child is under the age of 18. |
If any of the above scenarios occurs, you musty switch to evidence preservation mode, and immidiately turn off the computer in order to preserve any evidence for future law enforcement use. Unless directed to do so by the law enforcement agency, you should not attempt to copy any of the images and/or text found on the computer. Do not send them to anyone unless directed to do so by law enforcement
What Can You Do To Minimize The Chances Of An On-line Predator Victimizing Your Child?
Communication is key. You must talk to your children about sexual victimization and potential on-line danger. These conversations need to become routine and not dramatized
Pull up a chair and spend time with your children on-line. Let them do the surfing, kick back and coach. Have them teach you about their favorite on-line destinations etc.
Have a designated computer room, preferably a common room, not the child's bedroom. It is much more difficult for a computer-sex offender to communicate with a child when the computer screen is visible to other family members.
Always use parental controls provided by your service provider and/or blocking software. While electronic chat can be a great place for children to make new friends and discuss various topics of interest, it is also prowled by computer-sex offenders. The use of chat rooms, should be heavily monitored. While parents should utilize these mechanisms, they should not totally rely on them. Develop a monitoring system
You should maintain administative priviledges to all your computers and be the only one with the admin passwords. Ask your local computer technician how to set this up. Maintain access to your child's on-line account and randomly check his/her e-mail. Be aware that your child could be contacted through the U.S. Mail. Needless to say you must be up front with your child about your access and reasons why.
Teach your child the responsible use of on-line resources. There is much more to the internet than chat rooms etc.
Do find out your child's school, the public library, and your child's friends parents us as computer safeguards. You have no control over these places, and these are places your child could encounter an on-line predator.
Understand, even if your child was a willing participant in any form of sexual exploitation, that he/she is not at fault and is the victim. The offender always bears the complete responsibility for his or her actions.
What Can You Do To Minimize The Chances Of An On-line Predator Victimizing Your Child? |
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| Communication is key. You must talk to your children about sexual victimization and potential on-line danger. These conversations need to become routine and not dramatized |
| Pull up a chair and spend time with your children on-line. Let them do the surfing, kick back and coach. Have them teach you about their favorite on-line destinations etc. |
Have a designated computer room, preferably a common room, not the child's bedroom. It is much more difficult for a computer-sex offender to communicate with a child when the computer screen is visible to other family members. |
| Always use parental controls provided by your service provider and/or blocking software. While electronic chat can be a great place for children to make new friends and discuss various topics of interest, it is also prowled by computer-sex offenders. The use of chat rooms, should be heavily monitored. While parents should utilize these mechanisms, they should not totally rely on them. Develop a monitoring system |
| You should maintain administative priviledges to all your computers and be the only one with the admin passwords. Ask your local computer technician how to set this up. Maintain access to your child's on-line account and randomly check his/her e-mail. Be aware that your child could be contacted through the U.S. Mail. Needless to say you must be up front with your child about your access and reasons why. |
| Teach your child the responsible use of on-line resources. There is much more to the internet than chat rooms etc. |
| Do find out your child's school, the public library, and your child's friends parents us as computer safeguards. You have no control over these places, and these are places your child could encounter an on-line predator.
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| Understand, even if your child was a willing participant in any form of sexual exploitation, that he/she is not at fault and is the victim. The offender always bears the complete responsibility for his or her actions. |
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| Never, ever arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met on- line or anyone without your knowledge. EVER | |||
| Never, ever upload pictures of themselves onto the Internet or on-line service to people they do not personally know; | |||
| Never, ever give out personal information such as their name, home address, school name, or telephone number. This is a big one | |||
| Never, ever download pictures from an unknown source, as there is a good chance they could be sexually explicit images; | |||
| Never, never respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or harassing; | |||
| Never, ever let them believe that whatever they are told on-line may or may not be true unless you say it is so. | |||
| Never, ever assume you have good kids and they know better, ever |
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(in the works) | |||
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Press Items |
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Arthur Sahwcross |
My reviews of other published books |
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& Psychological Thrillers |
Ken Bianchi & Angelo Buono |
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You Suspect Your Child Is Communicating With A Sexual Predator On-line |
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Child Has Become A Victim? |
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