16 year olds sexting

[HMSBeagle]

It's not my child, child's friend has disclosed to them. My child has to come to me for advice.

My advice is not get involved. My gut says I shouldn't get involved either and I won't.

I didn't realise until tonight that this seems to be illegal. As they are under 18. But unless its distributed I guess unfortunately under 18s do this.

In reality, unless it's shared what would happen if it was found in the child's possession? They are both 16.

Bizarrely they're committing an offence if they sext but not if they have sex. Does it include nudes?

My life was ruined as a teenager by things sent between me and my boyfriend of over a year.

as a young girl you think that this person you love and trust with all your heart would never betray you and that your relationship will never end but the reality is teenage relationships do end and they can end badly, leading people to be spiteful and nasty which could lead to the sharing of messages or photos with peers.

there’s also the factor of either party showing friends thinking they’re showing off or because they’re proud even and before you know it it’s been shared around the whole school.

the child in question should be spoken to and reminded that things sent on phones are there forever and can’t be unsent and they should think twice about what they chose to send. It’s not bad to be in a sexual relationship but they should maybe save their steamy talk for face to face.

Yes it's videos too. I'm trying to get my head around the sex being fine but images not. It was all consensual as far as my child has been told. I'm just glad my child told me as they are struggling with this info and what to do / think.

I'm hoping my advice of stay out of it is the right thing to do. Both parent knew they was having sex. I have told my child it's illegal images in case any of it gets sent on ( these kids have broken up and I have been told partly due to my child's fear of revenge porn). But none of that's happened and highly possible never will.

It doesn't matter if it's consensual, it's technically illegal re the videos. The problem is those images and texts can't be controlled and could end up uploaded on Facebook or a porn site. That could happen at any time in the future and the girl wouldn't know.

If that was my child I'd want to know and I'd want to inform them of how serious this is should they do it again.

I don't know the girl involved or her parents so I can't inform her parents. I would have no way to contact them except via the bf and i dont think her parents are very protective. I know the boys mum. She 100% knows they have bern having sex. My child has said all of this to the girl, has told them they have made a bad judgement call and has allowed the bf to have a potential upper hand over her. There's,a part of me that wonders if both parents would be ok with them sharing images. Both sets of parents was happy for them to share a bed while at school so both a lot more open minded than me.

They are both making and distributing in terms of the law. The could both be charged, unlikely as a first time offense but it would out a stop to him sharing it with his friends.

Safeguarding children is EVERYONE's responsibility. Please get involved to prevent this CHILD from further harm. These images and videos are now on the cloud / internet forever.

What about informing the school or college?

There is no reason to think anything has been shared or backed up. Even if it was backed up there's no reason to think it can't be deleted or would be shared. The cloud is just a remote server. Your own personal server space

Wholeheartedly disagree. Those images exist forever and relying on each others goodwill to keep them private has seen many people exploited.

https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/crime-prevention-advice/sexting/

“If you are under 18, it is against the law to:

• take, have or distribute a sexual photo, including selfies
• have or pass on indecent images of someone under 18
• encourage or incite someone to take or send ‘sexts’ or ‘nudes’
• take a photo of your own genitals, whether the image is shared on or not”

they’re both committing a crime and your daughter knows about it. I’d look at this as protecting her too; she should know what the law is

There is no school for the girl so that's not an option. My child might disclose to their school but they are 16 and schools over so unlikely. They want to distance themselves.

I have nothing to go to anyone with except second hand information. The only thing I could do is tell the boys mum.but she was laid back about the sex I don't think what they got up to while having sex is going to be different.

You need to safeguard both of them, if you know information about the boy's school then you disclose to them now to their DSL (Designated Safeguard Lead) they know what to do as this won't be the first time this has happened and there are steps and procedures. I have had safeguarding training but it pertains to primary school not secondary.

What they are doing is illegal and can come with consequences of being on the sex offenders register. Stop it now by informing the school immediately. You need to protect him.

He could break up with this girl, get another girlfriend and do the same again, and again. Schools give talks on this, the children know it is illegal but children make shit decisions and it doesn't matter if it is consensual.