AFP contributes knowledge to a well-known TV programme to increase viewer awareness of children's online safety risks.

AFP contributes knowledge to a well-known TV programme to increase viewer awareness of children's online safety risks.

The Parental Guidance television programme on Channel 9 has received expert advice from an AFP covert online operative and senior child protection specialist to highlight the daily dangers children face online from predators looking to groom them.

Parental Guidance producers and experts from the AFP collaborated closely for months to create an online gaming scenario featured in an episode aired last night (5 June).

Members of the Covert Online Engagement Unit, housed in the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), used real-life interactions with online predators to inform the scenarios developed for the show's online gaming challenge.

The scenarios were carefully created to demonstrate how quickly and easily an online predator can obtain sensitive personal information from a child, and they were restricted to only include the early stages of the grooming process.

Experts from the ACCCE have repeatedly cautioned the public about the prevalence of online grooming and the speed with which predators can start coercing children as young as five after making contact.

The online gaming challenge for the programme gave vivid, real-world illustrations of how effective this predatory grooming can be and instances of kids successfully thwarting the grooming.

The production team received guidance on grooming tactics and strategies from an AFP covert operative, whose identity is protected.

With a focus on the most severe online predators, the Covert Online Engagement Unit specialises in covert operations online. Despite helping with the series production, they don't interact with kids online.

As the program's first-ever in-studio guest, AFP Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling of ACCCE and Human Exploitation joined hosts Ally Langdon and Dr. Justin Coulson on Parental Guidance to offer guidance and educational support to parents.

According to Detective Superintendent Crossling, the main lesson the AFP wanted parents to learn from the programme was the significance of having ongoing conversations with your kids about their online activities.

Detective Superintendent Crossling states, "The online world is a key component of most children's lives today, and as digital natives, they are typically much more knowledgeable in this world than their parents or carers."

"Despite this, parents continue to play a crucial role in assisting their children in navigating the digital world safely, and they should also be actively guiding them there.

The most crucial action is to regularly talk with your kids about their online activities and reinforce safe online behavior for them.

"Parental Guidance's online gaming challenge demonstrated the reality of what the AFP sees every day: innocent children being groomed by predators into disclosing sensitive or intimate information or images."

The ThinkUKnow education program from the AFP advises parents and carers to do the following:

Verify whether the app or game your child uses has a direct message or chat feature, and find out whether they are chatting with people they know in real life or complete strangers online.

Turn the chat off if the game or app is not required. If this is not possible, make sure your child is aware that the chat should only be used to discuss the game and not to answer any personal questions.

Your child should be taught how to think critically, and you should warn them that not everyone online is who they claim to be.

You can modify the privacy settings in some apps and games to restrict who can contact your child. Wherever possible, we advise putting this into practise. However, since these can occasionally be altered, we also advise performing a routine privacy "check-up" to ensure that these are still in place.

Something may not be right if someone asks your child to switch platforms or adds them as a "friend" on another platform. Know how to block or report any suspicious activity and keep an eye out for it.

Jack Changes the Game is a children's picture book that the AFP's ThinkUKnow programme and the AFP-led ACCCE have created to assist parents, carers, and teachers in discussing online grooming and staying safe online in a non-threatening and empowering way.

The book was created in collaboration with a reference group made up of some of Australia's top authorities on online safety and education, and it is based on a real report submitted to the ACCCE.

A ThinkUKnow learning package with materials for families and teachers is included with the book. All resources can be downloaded for free from www.thinkuknow.org.au.

The AFP and its partners are dedicated to putting an end to child exploitation and abuse, and the ACCCE is leading a coordinated, national effort to do so.

In order to support investigations into online child sexual exploitation and develop prevention strategies aimed at creating a safer online environment, the ACCCE brings together specialised expertise and skills in a single location.

People in the public are urged to contact the ACCCE at www.accce.gov.au/report if they have information about people involved in child abuse. Call the police at once at number 000 if you know that abuse is taking place right now or if a child is in danger.

Support services are available at www.accce.gov.au/support if you or someone you know is affected by child sexual abuse and online exploitation.

Only about half of parents talked to their children about online safety, according to ACCCE research from 2020. The AFP-led education programme www.thinkuknow.org.au, which aims to prevent online child sexual exploitation, offers guidance and support for parents and carers on how they can help protect children online.

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