Kiddipedia
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s Safe Bedrooms initiative is a suite of resources to educate parents and carers about online grooming. The Foundation recognises that online grooming continues to be a prevalent risk for children and young people.
Bruce Morcombe said, “Online grooming can happen to any child. However, 97% of Australian parents and carers hadn’t previously considered online grooming a threat.”
The resources address this and other myths about online grooming, aiming to ensure that parents and carers are aware of the varied approaches that groomers take, the ways in which they manipulate children and families, the speed at which grooming can occur, how to identify and prevent online grooming and most importantly how to report online grooming.
Denise Morcombe said, “Safe Bedrooms gives parents and carers the tools to lock predators out. We are always teaching kids to recognise, react and report when they feel unsafe. Now we need to ensure that parents and carers are able to do the same.”
Denise went on to say “The red flags for online grooming include; mood swings, secrecy, more time online, unexplained gifts, sexual language unexpected for their age and fighting with family and friends.”
The resources include videos, infographics and valuable fact sheets. This week, the Foundation is expanding the resources to include:
- 3 new videos which tell the story of online grooming from a child’s perspective, a parent’s perspective and a police perspective.
- These are:
- Predators Don’t Play Fair – Children’s perspectives of online
- Red Flags – Parents and Carer’s perspectives of online
- Check Mate – Police perspectives of online
· Resources which explain:
- How do I recognise online grooming?
- How do I react to online grooming?
- How do I report online grooming?
· Also included is a guide to reporting online grooming.
Bruce Morcombe said, “We are particularly proud of the resource – I think a child is being groomed online. How can I report? It provides step by step information for anyone concerned about a child to report their concerns and it has been developed collaboratively with ACCCE and all state and territory police department.”
The launch coincides with the beginning of school holidays, a time when children and teens turn to technology to stay in touch with their friends, and parents often relax rules surrounding screentime and devices in the bedroom.
For more information about Safe Bedrooms, and to access its free digital resources, visit: https://bit.ly/3vPH6yH
View the Safe Bedrooms videos with the links below
