Protecting our kids from sexual abuse

Trigger warning: This video talks about child sexual abuse and online grooming. If this raises issues for you please contact Lifeline or 1800Respect.

In this month’s ‘Maggie Moment’, Australian parenting author and educator talks about how our world is increasingly sexualising our children making our children far more vulnerable to sexual abuse – online and offline. She talks about the rise in ‘capping’, which the Australian Federal Police warn is on the rise and involves capturing child exploitation material by tricking or coercing children into unwittingly producing sexualised videos. Maggie outlines some steps we can take to protect our children and shares some resources to find more support and information.

For more resources and information, please visit:

eSafety Commissioner: https://www.esafety.gov.au/

Surf Online Safe – https://www.surfonlinesafe.com.au/

Safe4Kids – https://safe4kids.com.au/

The Cyber Safety Lady – https://thecybersafetylady.com.au/

Safe On Social – https://www.safeonsocial.com/

Sex Ed Rescue –  https://sexedrescue.com/

The Australian Federal Police have an education and prevention program called ThinkUKnow: http://www.thinkuknow.org.au/

You can report abuse to: Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation at https://www.accce.gov.au/

You can also find a list of useful resources including picture books to teach our children how to stay safe and teach them body safety and consent at: https://www.maggiedent.com/blog/top-tips-resources-teach-children-body-safety-protective-behaviours/