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Grooming risk levels

Updated

Monitor detects Grooming risks when a child or a young person is involved in an activity that indicates:

  • Coercion for sexual activity: The child or young person attempts to coerce another individual into sexual activity, or is the target of coercion from a suspected adult (18+).
  • Building trust and encouraging sharing: A suspected adult (18+) attempts to establish trust by appearing sympathetic, encouraging the sharing of personal details or gifts, or desensitising the child to sexual discussion and imagery.
  • Potential sexual abuse: Reveals information suggesting they have been subjected to sexual abuse.

Table 1 describes the risk levels for Grooming Events or Alerts.

LevelDescription
1No content is usually categorized at this level.
2Monitor doesn’t usually assign content to this level. However, some activities may suggest that a child is communicating with an adult, potentially leading to future grooming.
3The student is communicating with an adult they do not know.
4

A person is:

  • Attempting to gain information that may help them to identify and locate the user (for example: address, email, or phone number).
  • Offering a child a gift.
  • Attempting to organize an offline or in-person meeting with the student.
  • Asking a child or young person about their sexual experience or preferences, or for any other information of a sexual nature.

The student is:

  • A child being encouraged to view, discuss or participate in activities of a sexual nature
  • Sharing personal information that could be used to identify and locate them when requested for this by another person.
5

A person is:

  • Attempting to desensitize a child or young person to sexual discussion and imagery by normalising and encouraging them to participate in it.
  • Requested photos, videos, access to a webcam or live streaming of a sexual nature with a child or young person.

The student:

  • Has arranged to meet with a person, following a request to do so.
  • Has offered or has sent photos, videos, given access to a webcam or live streamed themselves in a sexual manner

Level 5 activities in this category always result in phone calls.

Table 1: Grooming risk levels