The Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA) welcomes the release of new online safety resources from the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) for parents, caregivers, children, and teens. The SVPA was proud to serve as one of many expert stakeholders consulted in the development of these materials, alongside a broad coalition of organizations that work to protect children from online harms.
Digital sexual violence against children is widespread, increasing, and ever evolving. Online grooming, sextortion, doxing, cyberstalking, image-based sexual abuse, and AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) are significantly increasing. Many parents and caregivers misunderstand these risks and are unaware of how to protect their children.
To prevent digital sexual violence, we need parents and caregivers who understands what digital sexual violence looks like, who know how to have productive conversations with their child, who know how to develop preventative skills and safety systems with their child, and who know how to become a trusted adult that their child feels comfortable giong to for help. That is exactly what these resources are built to do.
The new resources include:
- Helping Children and Youth Stay Safe Online: A Guide for Parents & Caregivers explains the scope and severity of online risks to children, including digital sexual violence, grooming, sextortion, and AI-generated abuse material, and offers concrete guidance on talking with children, staying approachable, and building safety skills together.
- Caregiver Help Guide: Reporting and Finding Help After Online Abuse walks caregivers through what to do if a child discloses online abuse, including preserving evidence, reporting to the right authorities, and supporting both the child and themselves through recovery.
- Connected Conversations: Talking About Online Safety offers practical guidance on starting and sustaining conversations about online safety, and on setting age-appropriate access and boundaries that evolve as children grow and technology changes.
- The NOPE Toolkit teaches children to Notice what feels off, Own their boundaries, Protect their privacy, and Exit and ask for help, paired with tools for caregivers to assess readiness, agree on expectations, practice these skills together, and respond when something goes wrong.
Each of these resources addresses a different piece of the same problem: children are navigating digital spaces that were never built with their safety in mind. They need trusted adults who know how to help them.
Preventing digital sexual violence depends on engaged parents, specifically parents who can recognize the warning signs of grooming and exploitation before they escalate. Support after the fact depends on caregivers who know how to respond to a disclosure without shame or panic. Both are essential, and both are made possible by these new resources.
“Prevention can’t depend on individual parents getting it right in a crisis. It requires a system of adults who are prepared. Adults who know how to respond without shame or panic, so that a child who comes forward is met with support, not punishment,” said Omny Miranda Martone, Founder and CEO of the SVPA. “Prevention cannot look like surveillance, avoidance, or fear. It has to be built on connection. These resources give caregivers the language and confidence to be that safe person. This is what prevention looks like.”
The SVPA encourages every parent, caregiver, educator, and youth-serving professional to read these resources and put them into practice. Preventing digital sexual violence is not the responsibility of our children! It is the responsibility of every adult who has the power to notice something is wrong, to teach safety skills, and to intervene before harm occurs.
