Parents need to open thier eyes

[Direstraightsagain]

Just read this article where the Mother of this poor girl said she ‘feels let down by police and social services’ . I feel for the mother too as obviously she must be devastated by the chain of events. However, AIBU to find it ridiculous that the mother, who is meant to parent the child, yet has given her free access to the internet/big bad world (I assume by mobile phone) now blames the police and social services !
rather than taking responsibility for not adequately looking after her 11 year old child? The parent seems unaware that they facilitated this, and should reflect on that.

More generally - I’d imagine there should now be laws / regulations to ensure parents protect their children in the same way they can’t easily physically walk into a room degenerates, they shouldn’t be able to virtually either and parents have to have some culpability for that and be prosecuted if they don’t adhere to basic child protection.

news.sky.com/video/how-girl-11-became-target-of-predators-after-sending-photo-to-a-boy-13183402

Sorry that should have said Smartphone free childhood movement...

Parents can do a fair bit but the tech companies and schools need to be forced to take more responsibility also, things have proliferated so quickly in the last five years even and it is hard to keep up

With respect, @MrHarleyQuin, 'tech companies' do a lot. But they can't force you to take notice.

All the big companies have a parental control apps that you can use on all devices with compatible OS. They are free to use, and easy to use. In the background they will also be doing as much as they can with safe filters/searches etc. to stop anything leaking through that shouldn't.

I don't really know what you mean about schools taking more responsibility - at least the schools my children have attended have regular internet safety classes, lots of assemblies on speaking up if, e.g., the group chat is making them uncomfortable. They only use apps that are very strictly controlled and monitored - and let's be real, even if they went back to paper-based only, does that mean that every child won't have internet access?! Doubt it. At the least they'd have to use the library to research where things like Discord can be reached and therefore secret conversations be held.

It's never going to be perfect because it literally can't be. Predators are predators and work hard to get round safeguarding, just like fraudsters work hard to get round failsafes to protect your money.

Tech companies did bugger all until they were forced to @CutthroatDruTheViolentAnd as for schools taking more responsibility, I've already set that out in an earlier post. And they do fuck all about sexual harrassment preferring to concentrate on kids wearing the wrong shoes or forgetting a ruler.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/10/sexual-harassment-is-a-routine-part-of-life-schoolchildren-tell-ofsted

Oh sorry I didn't realise your children were time travelling? Or is it irrelevant what companies were or weren't doing before? Safeguarding apps and the like are available now and you're negligent if you don't take advantage of them.

And while I agree with you about the sexual harassment in schools - I didn't realise that was what you were referring to as this thread has been about internet safety.