Be Aware
Awareness is key in preventing abuse. Learn the signs of abuse and how to identify potential threats your children face.
It’s a brutal time to be a kid today and as a parent you might feel powerless, overwhelmed and confused about where to begin protecting your kids.
Our POP Program has resources to help you take tangible steps to protect your children.
Our mission is to encourage and equip you to be the most powerful voice of truth for your kids
Hey Mom, did you know?
Many brave middle school and high school students have shared their stories of how they were exploited by predators. By sharing their stories, they hope to spare other kids from the pain and trauma they endured.
I NEED HELP RIGHT NOW
MY CHILD IS MISSING OR RAN AWAY
Law enforcement typically will not follow up on a runaway until they’ve been missing for 48 hours.
- Immediately call local police and report your child as missing. Keep records of your phone calls and all information. Ask for name and badge number of officer you report to and request a copy of the report.
- Report your missing child on your FBI App
- If you don’t have the FBI App, have your child’s name and description entered into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center Computer (NCIC) at 304-625-2000.
- Register your child as missing/runaway
-
- Call Child Find at 1-800-I-AM-LOST (1-800-426-5678)
- Contact the National Runaway Safeline 24/7 to develop a plan and leave a message for your child
- 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929)
- Live chat or email: 1800runaway.org
- Contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
- missingkids.com/home
- 1-800-THE-LOST (843-5678)
- Start a social media frenzy.
-
- Post pictures and a video of yourself petitioning for help especially from their friends.
MY CHILD HAS BEEN SEXUALLY ABUSED
Sexual Abuse & Assault: rainn.org
Sexual abuse is very difficult to talk about, but it does not stop unless you get help. If your child has been sexually assaulted or is being abused, call 911. To talk anonymously with a trained person:
-
-
-
-
-
- Call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 800-4-A-CHILD (422-4453), 24/7
- Call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673)
- Chat online at rainn.org
- Learn more about being an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse
-
-
-
-
There is hope, and there is healing—if you get help.
Sexual Abuse & Assault Specifically for MALES: malesurvivor.org
MenHealing provides healing resources for males age 18 and older who have experienced sexual trauma during childhood or as adults: referrals to licensed therapists in your community, connecting with other survivors in their peer-moderated discussion forums and chat room, attending MaleSurvivor sponsored events.
MY CHILD IS SUICIDAL
- Call 911 if your child is threatening suicide.
- TEEN LINE is a teen-to-teen hotline developed by mental health professionals — teenlineonline.org
- Call 800-237-TALK (8255)
- Text TEEN to 839863
MY CHILD STRUGGLES WITH PORN ADDICTION
joinfortify.com – Tens of thousands of Fortify users in over 155 countries have experienced an 85% decrease in depression and 88% reduction in porn use
xxxchurch.com – Online software, videos, workshops and small groups have helped hundreds of thousands of people.
fightthenewdrug.org – Fight the New Drug is a non-religious and non-legislative organization that exists to provide individuals the opportunity to make an informed decision regarding pornography by raising awareness on its harmful effects using only science, facts, and personal accounts.
protectyoungminds.org – Protect Young Minds seeks to help parents “porn-proof” their kids before they come across highly addictive and easily accessible internet pornography. Additionally, PYM offers guidance for families whose children have already been hurt by pornography.
MY CHILD IS A VICTIM OF SEX TRAFFICKING
Sex Trafficking: humantraffickinghotline.org
If you think your child is involved in sex for money (or for something else of value such as drugs or a place to stay), or someone is trying get them involved in sex for money:
Call 911 and contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline where support is provided in more than 200 languages.
-
-
-
-
-
- Call toll-free, 24/7: 1-888-373-7888 or TTY: 711
- Text: 233733
- Live chat: humantraffickinghotline.org/chat
- Email: help@humantraffickinghotline.org
-
-
-
-
MY CHILD IS BEING BULLIED ONLINE
Online Bullying: stopbullying.gov
If your child is being harassed, threatened or ridiculed online, don’t allow them to respond to or forward those messages. Instead, have them:
-
-
-
-
- Block the person who is cyberbullying
- Save and print screenshots, emails, and text messages of the cyberbullying
- Provide this information to law enforcement and to web and cell phone service providers
-
-
-
Too many teens lives are being destroyed by cyberbullying that can be stopped if we care enough to speak up.
MY CHILD IS A VICTIM OF SEXTORTION
Sextortion: Text “THORN” to 741741 or go to stopsextortion.com
Threating to reveal intimate images (like nudes) to get someone to do something they don’t want to do is an illegal form of blackmail called sextortion. Sextortion among teens is becoming epidemic, resulting in ruined lives and suicide. If someone is threatening to expose your child, call law enforcement. Document and report the threats. If threats aren’t reported they may go on for months. Once reported, the abuser knows they can be arrested if they post or forward those images. Note: most children are very reluctant to let their parents know they have sent nudes of themselves—which is one reason sextortion is exploding among youth and young adults.
SOMEONE HAS NUDES OF MY CHILD
To report your sexually exploitative images/videos to the CyberTipline, click here. In your report, you will need to report the image location to NCMEC (National Center of Missing and Exploited Children). To do this, right click on the image and select either “Copy Image Location” or “Copy Image Address.” In the CyberTipline report, make sure to say there are nude or sexually-exploitative images/videos of your child online and you want help to get the images removed.
MY CHILD IS STRUGGLING WITH AN EATING DISORDER AND/OR IS INFLICTING SELF-HARM
Eating Disorder: nationaleatingdisorders.org
Self-Harm: crisistextline.org
All of us struggle at times to cope with our emotions. Sometimes people turn to self-harm or an eating disorder as a way to cope with their emotions. Early detection and intervention is important to get your child the help they need to cope with their emotions in a healthy way.
I NEED TOOLS
FBI App: www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/protecting-your-kids/child-id-app
The Child ID app provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and other vital information about your children so that it’s literally right at hand if you need it. You can show the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers ON THE SPOT. Using a special tab on the app, you can also quickly and easily email the information to authorities with a few clicks.
Gabb Wireless: gabbwireless.com
The mission of Gabb Wireless is to protect children, connect families and encourage life outside the screen. Gabb Wireless is not just a phone or a phone network—we are a movement to protect kids by providing age-appropriate technology solutions.
Bark: bark.us
Keep Kids Safer Online – Bark’s affordable, award-winning dashboard proactively monitors text messages, YouTube, emails, and 24 different social networks for potential safety concerns, so busy parents can save time and gain peace of mind.
Clean Browsing: cleanbrowsing.org
Browse the web without surprises – You get to decide what type of content is allowed in your home or network via our DNS-based content filtering service. Parents can protect their kids from adult content, schools can be CIPA compliant and businesses can block malicious domains and gain visibility into their network.
Family Time app: familytime.io
Reclaim your family moments by managing content and usage across all devices. Monitor and mange kid’s cell phone activities like location, internet, phone logs, app block, geofencing & much more.
I NEED RESOURCES
Common Sense Media: commonsencemedia.org
Common Sense Media helps families make smart media choices. We offer the largest, most trusted library of independent age-based and educational ratings and reviews for movies, games, apps, TV shows, websites, books, and music. Our Parent Concerns and Parent Blog help families understand and navigate the problems and possibilities of raising children in the digital age.
The Mama Bear Effect: themamabeareffect.org
The Mama Bear Effect seeks to empower adults to actively protect children from sexual abuse by raising awareness, and promoting conversations and behaviors that can prevent abuse.
Protect Young Minds: protectyoungminds.org
Protect Young Minds seeks to help parents “porn-proof” their kids before they come across highly addictive and easily accessible internet pornography. Additionally, PYM offers guidance for families whose children have already been hurt by pornography.
Covenant Eyes: covenanteyes.com
Experience the #1 App for quitting porn – Covenant Eyes helps you live porn free with confidence.
Fight the New Drug: fightthenewdrug.org
A non-religious, non-legislative, nonprofit, raising awareness and educating on the harmful effects of pornography.
National Center on Sexual Exploitation: endsexualexploitation.org
Exposing the connections between all forms of sexual exploitation.
I NEED TO REPORT ONLINE ABUSE
Sex Trafficking: humantraffickinghotline.org/get-help
If you think your child is involved in sex for money (or for something else of value such as drugs or a place to stay), or someone is trying get them involved in sex for money:
Call 911 and contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline where support is provided in more than 200 languages.
-
-
-
-
-
- Call toll-free, 24/7: 1-888-373-7888 or TTY: 711
- Text: 233733
- Live chat: humantraffickinghotline.org/chat
- Email: help@humantraffickinghotline.org
-
-
-
-
Illegal Pop-Ups & Online Predators: report.cybertip.org
NCMEC’s (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children) CyberTipline is the nation’s centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children and youth. The public and electronic service providers can make reports of suspected online enticement of children for sexual acts, child pornography, child sex trafficking, and unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child. NCMEC staff review each tip and work to find a potential location for the incident reported so that it may be made available to the appropriate law-enforcement agency for possible investigation. Report it and get it stopped!
Online Bullying: stopbullying.gov
If your child is being harassed, threatened or ridiculed online, don’t allow them to respond to or forward those messages. Instead, have them:
- Block the person who is cyberbullying
- Save and print screenshots, emails, and text messages of the cyberbullying
- Provide this information to law enforcement and to web and cell phone service providers
Too many teens lives are being destroyed by cyberbullying that can be stopped if we care enough to speak up.
Sextortion: Text “THORN” to 741741 or go to stopsextortion.com
Threating to reveal intimate images (like sexts) to get someone to do something they don’t want to do is an illegal form of blackmail called sextortion. Sextortion among teens is becoming epidemic, resulting in ruined lives and suicide. If someone is threatening to expose your child, call law enforcement. Document and report the threats. If threats aren’t reported they may go on for months. Once reported, the abuser knows they can be arrested if they post or forward those images. Note: most children are very reluctant to let their parents know they have sent sexts of themselves—which is one reason sextortion is exploding among youth and young adults.
I NEED READING MATERIALS
American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers, by Nancy Jo Sales
Award-winning Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales crisscrossed the country talking to more than two hundred girls between the ages of thirteen and nineteen about their experiences online and off. They are coming of age online in a hypersexualized culture that has normalized extreme behavior, from pornography to the casual exchange of nude photographs; a culture rife with a virulent new strain of sexism; a culture in which teenagers are spending so much time on technology and social media that they are not developing basic communication skills. A must for those wanting to understand why our children are now so vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. (Hint: they are abusing and exploiting each other.)
The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media’s Effect on Our Children, by James P. Steyer
There’s a stranger in your house.
Every day your children are bombarded by images of sex, commercialism, and violence — right in your own home. Kids spend more time each week with media than they do with their parents or teachers, and they learn about the adult world — through the influence of TV, the movies, music, computer games, and the Internet — long before they’re adults.
Your Teenager Is Not Crazy: Understanding Your Teen’s Brain Can Make You a Better Parent, by Dr. Jeramy Clark & Jerusha Clark
As God allows us to understand the mystery and marvel of brain science, we have the exciting opportunity to reexamine our assumptions about children–especially teenagers. Where parents often see a sweet boy or girl who has morphed into an incomprehensible bundle of hormones and angst, what we really ought to be seeing is an amazing young adult whose brain is under heavy construction. And changing the way we see our teens will revolutionize our relationships with them.
Dr. Jeramy and Jerusha Clark show that they can be an amazing season of cultivating creativity, self-awareness, and passion for the things that really matter.
SEDUCED: THE GROOMING OF AMERICA’S TEENAGERS, by Opal Singleton
Opal Singleton is President and CEO of Million Kids and Training and Outreach Coordinator for Riverside County Anti Human Trafficking Task Force. Opal trains thousands of government agencies, school administrators, corporations, civic groups and
faith-based organizations about how to prevent human trafficking. She sits with parents of missing kids and talks with teens who are being “Sextorted” with a naked photo.
Parents give kids devices that open the door to over a million predators that can influence a child’s thinking on morality, spirituality and sexuality while they are competing for approval in a fantasy world. Apps, social media and online gaming allow ACCESS, GROOMING, RECRUITMENT AND EXPLOITATION of our young people by total strangers.
Mending the Soul: Understanding and Healing Abuse, by Steven R. Tracy
This book provides a well-researched biblical and scientific overview of abuse. A broad overview, it deals with the various types of abuse, the various effects of abuse, and the means of healing.
Just as surely as abusive relationships have tremendous power to wound the soul, so healthy relationships have tremendous power to nurture and heal the soul. Questions answered in the book include: – Why would someone abuse a child? – How can parents and childrens’ workers identify abusers? – How can abuse victims heal? – What does genuine healing look like? – Is anger appropriate or hurtful for abuse victims? – Where does forgiveness fit in?
Mending the Soul: Understanding and Healing Abuse: Student Edition, by Steven R. Tracy
For teenagers who have experienced any kind of abuse or abandonment, it can often feel like hope is lost and they’re doomed to stay stuck in unhealthy habits and patterns. This teenage edition of Mending the Soul was written to show teens that by following a path of restoration and allowing God’s grace to touch their heart’s deepest wounds, they will find hope and healing as they work through their pain. It will help them navigate the emotional trauma of abuse and abandonment, as well as recognize signs of unhealthy families and dating relationships. Teens will be encouraged to face their brokenness, to heal and forgive and to look toward their hope-filled future.