NSPCC and SSAUK

@2fallsagain it seems to me that this issue is something that should concern all parents, whether or not they consider themselves to be feminists.

Might you consider starting a thread in AIBU or Chat?

However posters are not vetted - there is no way of checking if the 13 year old girl asking about masturbation is actually 13, or female

I'd bet good money that the person on that thread is neither. I read it and it set of my spidey sense. Just something in the words used and way they were used.

I am still reeling from this - this site is practically begging to be used in grooming kids. Shame on the NSPCC. They should not get public money. Thank god for SSA.

I'm shocked by those nspcc message boards.

The eating disorder charity beat has a much better system. They have chatrooms, but it's live chat rather than a forum. Each chat contains a mod, who approves messages in real time but can also offer support and guidance. The chatrooms are only open for set times, so for example it could be Monday 6-8pm, and you can't read back so you cannot view any messages that were posted before you joined the chat room for that particular session. I feel this would be a much more appropriate system for the nspcc to use. They must have enough money to operate that way. At the very least their forum should be set up so that posts can't be seen unless you're logged in.

Those boards, I don't know where to start I dread to think who is looking at those. And the gender identity ones, poor kids, they've no idea what its all about, all they know is they have to pick a label, FFS. Agree this needs to be on the main boards, probably AIBU. Parents need to know about this. Its good that kids can have somewhere to ask questions but this is definitely not the way to do it. Can't quite get over the fact this is Childline!

Have nothing constructive to add apart from what the fuck!!! Are there any adults in NSPCC/Childline.

I've wondered if this isn't the issue. We've moved from a universalist position about people, be they LGB or racial categories or whatever, as all being regular people, and in general its not important other than in limited situations (like dating,) - to a CT viewpoint which tells us that we are composed of all these identities and living authentically means recognising them, expressing them, and having them validated socially. And the identities are somehow inborn and emergent and based on self-recognition, so we should encourage children to define them in order to help them live authentically.

These message boards appear to be adult free

I bet you they aren't adult-free, whether or not there's any mods.

There's ways of offering a safer space to isolated young people to talk - but this is not that space.

I agree SmokedDuck Once you raise LGBT issues parents (in many ways rightly) are silenced for fear of being homophobic if they raise any concerns. But we should be raising concerns about adult groups targeting primary schools and persuading young children that they even need to identify their sexual identity let alone some of the other adult themes they want to talk to young children about.
The new government Sex Relationships guidelines remind schools about the importance of age appropriate information yet it seems that the fear of being called bigot, pearl clutching or homophobe silences adults from implementing the most basic of safeguarding measures.

There is someone claiming to be 14-15 who is dishing out loads of dodgy advice. They learned a lot from youtube apparently

What the heck is the point of those boards?

If they want an online version of Childline, wouldn't you have kids submitting questions and concerns to be read and responded to by people they hire, adults, with some training?

What they have there is crazy and gross and I'l bet lots of parents would assume it was a healthy place for their kids to get answers.

You can talk to a trained advisor - either via chat or over the phone about your questions. And I would have no problem with that. The issue is that the message boards are moderated but I'm assuming only for content which they deem harmful or abusive.

There is someone claiming to be 14-15 who is dishing out loads of dodgy advice. They learned a lot from youtube apparently

I advised my teens not to touch NSPCC when the whole rubberman thing happened. I'm glad I've steered them away as they appear to have learned nothing at all. It's quite something when the only organisation in the country to have statutory powers seems to have such a limited understanding of safeguarding.

Agree Molten

Well whatever moderation they have they don't seem to be modded by trained adults who understand safeguarding. I mean just the Google it response would have been blocked as a minimum never mind the far more concerning posts on there.

Even if there was a way of ensuring only children could post, how is it sensible to have peers giving sex advice to other children? Even without assuming malice the ability ability incorrect and potentially dangerous information to be shared is high through a combination of Chinese whispers and bravado.

Seems Glinner raised the relationship between Childline and Stonewall and mentioned the message boards last year. It would be good if this could be picked up by a journalist:

"Elsewhere on the Childline website, children can join “Message Boards”, ie discussion forums, dedicated to specific topics. (Presumably, these are moderated by Childline to censor inappropriate content etc?) One of these message boards is specifically about “Gender identity” and has a variety of sections in which children can post comments, start discussions and chat with each other.
There are discussions about being non-binary and gender queer and demi-sexual etc in which kids and young teens validate, even encourage, each other’s various identities and pronouns and agree on how awful and bigoted their parents are."

grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/childline-the-nspcc-and-the-gender

Thanks for the comments. I've emailed my local Child Exploitation contact within the police. It will be interesting to see how she responds.

Cripes

Just went on their message boards

Does no one adult monitor it or give adult advice?

Some weirdos will be getting their kicks from there

I think posts are moderated ie every post is checked by Childline before it goes live (which is pretty alarming seeing what does get through).

However posters are not vetted - there is no way of checking if the 13 year old girl asking about masturbation is actually 13, or female. Of course, because the people posting are supposed to be children there is no way to verify their identity. Which is why it is so alarming these message boards appear to be entirely peer to peer in the replies.

[quote Karwomannghia]@persistentwoman ok thanks. I only had a quick look because I felt uncomfortable so I hadn’t appreciated that it wasn’t moderated. Didn’t realise it was just a bit of a free for all![/quote]
I think we would all assume that a safeguarding charity would moderate their boards for children - given everything we know about online abuse.
Unbelievable that it isn't.

@persistentwoman ok thanks. I only had a quick look because I felt uncomfortable so I hadn’t appreciated that it wasn’t moderated. Didn’t realise it was just a bit of a free for all!

I may even contact my local Child Sexual and Criminal Exploitation contact within the police. Is that OTT?

I don't think it's OTT. It's the kind of thing people with agenda SAY is OTT for women to be concerned about, but it's really not. I hope the police are looking at this site to see who's on there and if there's any grooming going on. It's clear there's no attempt to ensure people are who they say they are.

Leafstamp
I'm inclined to think the press are a better bet as so many police forces are Stonewall champions these days so will no doubt follow their directions rather than the needs of children.

I really think this needs to be looked into. If you can't trust NSPCC to keep children safe, who can we trust? Genuine question. Does anyone know who would be prepared to look into this? I may even contact my local Child Sexual and Criminal Exploitation contact within the police. Is that OTT?

I mean even tiktok claims to be 13+ (I know it's not really, but at least you have to pretend to be 13+ to go on there)