Protect Me Project

05/28/2026

One supportive response can make a lasting difference.

👀 Pay attention
🗣 Take concerns seriously
🛑 Speak up early

Awareness becomes protection when action follows.
*Look up what your local child abuse hotline number is!

05/26/2026

Sometimes the most powerful protection is giving kids the skills and words to use to speak up! 🗣

So what does that mean?

Teach them about consent.
➡ It's as easy as teaching young kids (0-4 years old) how to say "NO"!
➡ This also helps kids understand boundaries for themselves and for others!
➡ Teach kids that their bodies belong to them.

"No to secrets, yes to surprises!"
➡ Abusers and groomers will use secrets to build isolation from family and friends.
➡ Private messages and DMs; encouraging lying.

Remind them: "IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!"

05/22/2026

Prevention starts with early conversations!

Kids and teens need safe adults that they can talk to without fear or shame!

What can a trusted adult do?
• Have open communication 💬
• Talk about healthy boundaries ✅
• Teaching body autonomy 🧠
• Letting them know who kids interact with online and in person 🤳
• Creating an environment where speaking up feels safe 📢

These conversations do not have to wait until kids are older. Using age-appropriate conversations early helps build trust, confidence, and a foundation for prevention. 🛡

05/20/2026

How can we tell if someone is a safe adult vs unsafe? 🚩

Safe, trusted adults:
✅ Respects boundaries of kids and parents/guardians
✅ Includes parents/guardians in communication and interaction
✅ Does not ask to keep or tell secrets
✅ Encourages healthy relationships with friends, family and peers
✅ Avoid inappropriate conversations, comments or jokes

Unsafe behaviors or red flags of grooming:
❌ Overstepping boundaries or ignoring parent/guardian rules
❌ Asking or pressuring kids to keep secrets
❌ Isolates child from family, friends and peers; constantly seeking alone time
❌ Sexualizing conversations, jokes or interactions
❌ Showing unusual favoritism towards one child through special gifts, private outings, or excessive attention- especially when secrecy is involved

➡These are only a few behaviors to pay attention to! Pay attention to patterns, not just isolated moments. Healthy relationships are built on TRUST, RESPECT, and TRANSPARENCY—not secrecy, pressure, or control.

🔗
https://sharedhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Safe-Adult-Fact-Sheet_6.14.21.pdf
https://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/the-real-red-flags-of-grooming/

05/18/2026

ONLINE SAFETY STARTS WITH CONVERSATION ⚠️
Kids can’t recognize unsafe behavior if no one has taught them what to look for. Open, ongoing conversations about online safety help build awareness, confidence, and trust.

Here are a few important topics to talk through together:

🗨️ Explain what a predator or groomer can look like:
They may be adults or peers. They can be strangers—or even someone your child knows. Online, people may pretend to be someone they’re not to gain trust.

👀 Talk about what healthy online relationships look like
Discuss respect, boundaries, honesty, and safe communication both online and offline.

🔐 Teach privacy and personal safety online
Help kids understand why personal information, photos, locations, and passwords should stay private. Review app privacy settings together.

🚩 Talk about the different red flags that a predator or groomer might use:
Including: wanting to keep secrets, moving conversations to private apps, giving gifts or money, isolating them from family and friend, pressuring to send explicit content of themselves.

📱 Stay involved in their world:
Know what apps your kids are using and who they’re interacting with online. Create a safe space where they feel comfortable coming to you with concerns or questions. Open communication helps build trust and keeps conversations about online safety ongoing.

🔗
https://thrive.psu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/thrive_resource_10-18-years_talking-tips-to-protect-your-child-from-online-predators-and-grooming_20260226.pdf
https://childrescuecoalition.org/educations/10-expert-tips-for-protecting-children-from-online-sexual-predators/

05/15/2026

⚠ WARNING SIGNS ⚠

It doesn’t usually start with something obvious.
Online grooming often begins with small shifts that feel easy to overlook.

👀 Notice the shifts
🧠 Trust when something feels off
🛑 Take action early

🔗https://www.dhs.gov/know2protect/take-action

05/13/2026

BARK:
Social Media Dangers Exposed by Mom Posing as 11 Year Old
📹

605K likes, 59K comments. "Social Media Dangers Exposed by Mom Posing as 11-Year-Old"

05/11/2026

📱 This week’s focus: Online Grooming

Technology has opened so many doors for learning, being creative, and staying connected. HOWEVER, it has also created new ways for predators to manipulate and exploit children.

After 2020, recruitment for human trafficking went online. According to Polaris, there was 125% increase of recruiting on facebook and 95% increase on Instagram. (1)

In 2024, NCMEC has received more than 456,000 reports of online enticement. Online Enticement: Individual who communicates online with someone believed to be a child with intent for sexual abuse or kidnapping. (2)

It doesn’t always look dangerous.
It often starts with a message, a comment, or a conversation. 💬

This week, we’re breaking down:
👀 Where it happens
⚠️ Warning signs to watch for
🛡 How to stay safe

🔗:
(1) https://polarisproject.org/2020-us-national-human-trafficking-hotline-statistics/
(2) https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/onlineenticement

05/08/2026

🚫 What you think grooming or abuse looks like could be the reason it’s missed.
Misconceptions create blind spots—and those blind spots allow harm to go unnoticed.

When we don’t know what to look for, we’re more likely to overlook the warning signs.
Take a moment to learn a few common myths—and the truth behind them.

Because awareness isn’t just helpful… it’s protective.
👀 Know what to look for
🧠 Challenge the myths
🛑 Help stop it early

05/04/2026

⚠️ This month, we’re focusing on grooming—what it is, where it happens, and most importantly, how to prevent it.

Grooming doesn’t happen overnight. It's a process...

Perpetrators build trust over time to gain access, create secrecy, and manipulate a potential victim for sexual abuse.

That’s why awareness is everything.
👀 Know the signs
🗣 Speak up
🛑 Stop it early

Because prevention starts long before abuse.

🔗https://rainn.org/get-the-facts-about-sexual-violence/get-the-facts-about-grooming/