What does it really mean to be child-centered and trauma-informed?

There is no limit to the long-lasting impacts of online child sex abuse. The viral nature of the internet retraumatises victims with the recirculation of harmful content of them, continuing to affect them in the real world, beyond the screen. Until recently, technology-facilitated childhood sexual violence was relatively unmonitored and unregulated. Though significant efforts have been made globally to enact legislation on online child sexual abuse material, the meaningful integration of survivors’ lived experiences is critical to creating a holistic approach to end this global scourge.

I was a victim of technology-assisted child sexual abuse when I was 13. I was groomed online. I was manipulated into sending one topless image, and that image was used to blackmail me for more images, more videos, and then for my address, the perpetrator came to my home the following morning and committed sexual violence in person, and took more images.

The worst part of that experience was the images. The images will never stop. There is no end date to this abuse. The self-blame that we, victims and survivors of this abuse, feel for being manipulated and groomed never stops. The shame of being manipulated in these ways never stops. And the fear around the images, who has seen them, who might see them in the future, also never stops.

It's been 21 years since my abuse, and I still live in fear of those images. There are very specific impacts that come from digital abuse, and this requires very specialist support to enable the recovery journey. We must make sure that the response that we're giving to children, and adult victims and survivors, does no further harm.

Unfortunately, we do see further harm unintentionally committed by professionals who don't have the understanding and the knowledge to respond in a way that protects that child.

An example of a great solution to address technology-facilitated childhood sexual violence is the Model National Response by the WeProtect Global Alliance, in partnership with UNICEF. This is a practical, adaptable guide that supports countries to build comprehensive strategies to protect children. It translates a global vision to protect children online into actionable steps tailored to each country’s unique needs, reinforcing laws, raising awareness, supporting and empowering survivors and strengthening technological safeguards.It has led to increased reporting, rapid removal of harmful content, and improved case handling by law enforcement.

I feel really strongly about the support and empowerment of victims and survivors provided by this model. Given the opportunity, we can feed into these processes. We can tell what does work, what doesn't work, what is triggering, what is damaging, and how to make this better, how to make these services work for us.

We collaborated with the London Metropolitan Police. Our lived experience and their policing experience came together to establish training within the Metropolitan Police for all of their officers who will be in contact with a child victim.

But these were officers trained in images. They're not officers trained in support. So we helped them to implement a simple solution: If you've not seen that image, you tell the child upfront, “Don't worry, I've not seen it.” If you have seen it, then you do not speak to that child and instead another officer will conduct the conversation.

When we're looking at putting a framework in place, sometimes it's just small tweaks to what we're already doing.

A resource was also created specifically for those children who are identified in child sexual abuse images. Every time their officers now go to one of these cases, they have a resource to take and they have the training and knowledge and skills behind them to get that response right. A small change, sometimes, is all it takes.

We have seen children being blamed for taking an image consensually and sharing that with their boyfriend or girlfriend. When that's then shared more widely, without consent, the victim is blamed. But that's not their fault. They're engaging in age-appropriate, developmentally healthy behavior. Before technology was so accessible, this used to happen behind the bike sheds, now it's sending images and sexting. We have to come to terms with the fact that teenagers do this as part of their development. However, we’ve seen children who have been threatened with criminalisation for those images.

Images taken as the result of grooming, abuse, manipulation and blackmail aren’t consensually taken. And yet we have seen children in that situation also threatened with criminalisation. That is horrendous. We see children treated as perpetrators. At school, they might be put in isolation, they might be excluded, they can even be expelled.

All of these responses from professionals silence children. They don't want to talk to the professionals when they’ve been treated like that. The professionals are reinforcing the feelings of blame and shame that the victim already feels. When a child is triggered, they respond with normal trauma responses, but they are labeled as naughty, disruptive, even aggressive. Their trauma is weaponised against them. It is heartbreaking to know that victims are receiving this response.

The Model National Response guides the coordination of national efforts that is critical in delivering a holistic response to online child sexual exploitation and abuse. It brings together national criminal justice systems, front-line social services, the education sector, and the private sector.

These efforts are structured across six domains: policy and governance, criminal justice, victim support, societal prevention, industry engagement, and communication and media. Its success comes from helping governments to recognize that they need to bring in civil society voices in terms of developing this response.

While only 27 countries had sufficient legislation in 2006, that rose to 138 in 2023. In 29 countries, the Model National Response has helped governments strengthen their policies and governance, improved case handling within the justice system, increased the number of reporting and support hotlines, and initiated more education and awareness programs.

However, challenges have included private sector participation, weak governance bodies, limited political will to address online child sexual exploitation and abuse, and an entrenched, artificial divide between online and offline child sexual exploitation and abuse.