Multi Agency Staff Guidance on Sexting Dumfries and Galloway Child Protection Committee Published: February 2017

What is Sexting? “Creating and/or sending on text, images or videos that are of a sexual nature or are indecent, by, to or of children under the age of 18” These images are shared between young people and/or adults via a mobile phone or other electronic device including the use of social media, with people they may know or not know.

Purpose of Guidance To provide a shared understanding of sexting, its place, potential risks and impact in young people’s lives To provide a shared approach that if consistently applied will support partnership working in response to this issue To provide a framework for assessing and responding to potential risks The guidance gives practical advice about what to do if sexting happens or is disclosed in your school, care or youth work setting, highlights the steps that you need to take and provides some practical examples. The guidance gives an overview of the problem and offers an insight into the research and categorisation of sexting incidents. It also highlights some local activities, resources and support for a preventative approach.

Who is the Guidance for and when should it be used? The Guidance is for staff in schools and all other agencies working directly with children and young people. It applies to children & young people under age 18 but may also be relevant to work with vulnerable adults. It is designed to provide a consistent and proportionate response to concerns at both a single and inter-agency level. It should be used to support risk assessment and management of sexting at a single and inter agency level, to generate responses that are proportionate to the individual situation and needs of the children and /or young people involved.

Example Scenario 1 A 15 year old boy took a picture of his penis and sent it to a female classmate. The classmate in turn, but without permission, sent it to four other girls. The incident was disclosed when one of the girl’s friends told the Pupil Support Teacher. There were no other concerns about him or the girls. With no other concerns this could be dealt with at school by contacting parents. It should be noted however, that in all cases parents are of course at liberty to contact the Police should they wish to.

Example Scenario 2 An S3 girl created a fake Snapchat account as a 15 year old male. She encouraged a girl of the same age with learning difficulties to add the fictitious male as a contact. The S3 girl then started to send her male images. She also asked the girl to send photos of herself. Given the vulnerabilities and unknown risk factors in this scenario Child Protection Procedures should be followed.

Example Scenario 3 On a school trip an S2 boy used another boy's phone and took a photo of his own genitals. The image was not distributed any further, but the other boy to whom the phone belonged was really upset when he tried to take a photo and saw the inappropriate image. It was clear in speaking to the boy who had taken the photos that he didn’t realise the seriousness of what he had done. There had never been concerns about the boy who had taken the photos neither had there been any concerns in relation to parenting. School contacted the parents of the boy who took the photograph, who were very upset. They said that his phone would be confiscated and their son grounded. Details of the incident were recorded in both boys’ chronologies. Work on e-safety was revisited in school.

Example Scenario 4 A 13 year old girl was chatting to a boy she met online. He told her that he was 16 years old and new to the area and that he was using social networking sites to make new friends. They spoke online for a few weeks and she told her friends that she was in a relationship. She also told them that they had been speaking on the phone and she had sent him some naked photos of herself via her mobile phone. The boy then said that he wanted to meet up in real life at his house to take the relationship further but told her to keep it a secret. Her friends were worried and spoke to a teacher at school. The 13 year old girl’s parents allowed her a great deal of freedom for her age and she had been in quite a lot of trouble at school recently. School spoke to the school’s Campus Police Officer for advice. They agreed that there were unknown risks. School also made a Child Protection Referral to Social Work. An Initial Referral Discussion took place. Police investigated and found that the 16 year old boy was actually a 28 year old man who had been speaking to several young girls.