Legal News

Child protection officers are investigating at least one new case of child abuse a day as a result of the craze of “sexting” among very young teenagers.

The Daily Mail reports that teenagers are copying older young adults who have adopted the trend for sending messages containing sexual content and images to each other.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is warning that some children are putting themselves at risk as a result.

The head of safeguarding at the NCA’s CEOP command centre – which tackles child abuse involving children aged 13 or over – says they are dealing with “difficult and sometimes harmful” situations involving youngsters who send sexual content to each other.

“With smartphones and tablets – and new apps emerging all the time – this behaviour is becoming quite normal for teenagers,” Zoe Hilton said.

“They are copying what they see older young adults do.”

Ms Hilton said that some children were being “tricked” into sending images to strangers, who then blackmailed them.

“Some of the worst examples are children sharing images of themselves and making themselves very vulnerable.

“That image gets into the wrong hands, or that image is used to blackmail the child for further images.2
“The images get into the hands of someone who then uses it to exploit the child or seek to harm or disadvantage the child in some way.”

CEOP is receiving reports of abuse linked to sexting from teachers, parents and children themselves.

Duncan Lewis Family Solicitors

Duncan Lewis family solicitors can advise on a wide range of family and child care matters, including child abuse within the home, child taken into Local Authority care, care proceedings and Court of Protection cases.

Duncan Lewis advises on family law under UK law and Islamic law, including advising on domestic violence, FGM and forced marriages.

For expert legal advice on family and child care law, call Duncan Lewis Family Solicitors on 020 7923 4020.