There have been a number of cases of online grooming reported in the media in the last two or three years in which children or young people in the UK have had have met face-to-face with an adult with whom their first point of contact had been in a chat room. These cases came to the attention of the media largely because they involved serious sexual assaults.

According to a report from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, one in five Internet users younger than 17 received an online sexual solicitation or approach during the past year. One in 33 received an aggressive sexual solicitation involving offline contact or a request for offline contact.  

Research findings indicate that the behaviours of adults with a sexual interest in children engaged in grooming children and young people in teen chat rooms can be categorised according to the various stages of abusive behaviours, including abusive cyber sex and grooming.  

The different stages of grooming are outlined in the multimedia example in the right hand column of this page. For more information see:http://www.websafecrackerz.com/bbb.aspx

Legal definition of online grooming

Section 15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 makes it an offence for an adult who has established contact with a child on at least two occasions to meet, or travel with the intention of meeting a child, with intent to commit a sexual offence against that child. The offence is punishable by up to ten years imprisonment.

The previous contact can occur through, for example, meetings, telephone conversations or communications on the Internet, and it is designed to tackle behaviour whereby the adult gains the child's trust and confidence so that he can arrange to meet the child for the purpose of committing a sexual offence.

Crucially, the intended sexual offence against the child does not have to take place because the legislation allows for the offender to be arrested when he sets off to meet the child. Alternatively, the offence could be used where an adult discovers the behaviour and takes over the contact, leading the offender to believe that he is going to meet a child instead of an adult. Here, careful use of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 would ensure that the offence is still committed.  

Notably, the course of conduct prior to the meeting that triggers the offence may have an explicitly sexual content, such as the adult entering into conversations with the child about the sexual acts he wants to engage her in when they meet, or sending images of adult pornography, in other words abusive cyber sex interactions.

However, the legal system recognises that the prior meetings or communication need not have an explicitly sexual content, although when the meeting is arranged or occurs, it must be possible to demonstrate that the offender has the relevant intention to commit a sexual act against the child.

Advice for parents

Consider your child’s perspective…

• Many young people consider Internet friendships as an extremely important part of their social network. It is important to recognise sexually oriented online relationships occur much less frequently than benign friendships; therefore, young people can see repeated warnings about the risk of online encounters as unrealistic.
• Not all online sexual solicitors fit the media stereotype of the adult male and it is important to be aware of the fact that some times adult males pose as females or young people when conversing with children online.
• Harassment, in the form of threatening or malicious messages, e-mails, and Web pages, is frequently more distressing to young people than online sexually oriented encounters because such harassment often involves people who live close enough to the victim to carry out their online threats. 
• Talk specifically to your child about the diversity of positive online experiences and the risk posed by others online. Most importantly let your child know that no matter what happens online that they can rely on your guidance and support.
• Become more involved in your child’s online friends – discussing each online friend in a way that respects the privacy of the your child while safeguarding them from inappropriate communication
• Negotiate with your child issues around how they conduct themselves online, for example, the names they use online, and how they should expect to be treated by other sin an online context.
• It is a good idea as a reference to note down in contract format those issues that have been negotiated and agreed.
• It is important to have a balanced approach at all times and to be aware of the benefits of young people being able to communicate online and maintain friendships whilst addressing the problem of non-sexual as well as sexual victimization on the Internet.
• Ensure that your child is aware of the existence and locations of resources for reporting and dealing with Internet offences.
• Negotiate age appropriate prevention and intervention strategies for youth of different ages.
• Encourage young people to take responsibility for youth-oriented parts of the Internet and to help clean up standards of Internet behaviour.
   

Technology based support

• For younger children it may be wise to consider the use of technological protective measures that can be implemented which will complement your support and guidance.
• Installation of particular filtering software products affords parents the opportunity to block access to chat and instant messenger programmes which are the typical locations for abusive cyber sex and online grooming to occur. However, it is important to note that the growth in children and young peoples’ websites and blogs which afford other people online the opportunity to leave comments and messages on the site is another possible avenue for this sort of abuse to occur.
• Filtering software packages also allow you to tracking users usage of particular applications which allows you to monitor the amount of time spent using particular computer programs.
• Keeping your firewall and anti-virus software up to date will limit the opportunity for an adult with ill-intent from gaining access to your child’s computer.
• Some experts in child protection recommend the installation of a key logger – computer software that allows the storage of all characters that have been typed on a particular machine. It is important to consider your child’s right to privacy when considering this option and the importance of creating an atmosphere of trust, support and open dialogue between you and your child. 
• It is also possible to explore the sites your child has visited by accessing the history button on your browser task bar. 

• Privacy filtration – software, such as Netscape Nanny 5.0, that blocks personal information from transmission over the Internet
• A number of chat and Instant Messenger programmes allow you to save copies of conversations. It is wise to recommend to children and young people that if you agree that they can use chat and instant messenger programmes that they use ones which allow them to save copies of conversations.