Creating a Safe Environment Newsletter | Winter 2016

Children can easily encounter predators online; and predators know the places children

hang out online and how to develop online relationships with them. In this article, we

cover the patterns typical of online predators, the likely places where children can encounter them, how you can minimize the risks of your child becoming a victim, and how

to respond if you sense that your child is being targeted by an online predator.

Chances are that your child will never be the victim of an online predator. However, that

doesn’t mean that you or your children should be naive. You and your children need to be

smart about the reality today. We live in a networked, social world. Therefore the “places”

where children can encounter strangers online is becoming increasingly complex. Online

services and technologies are often “faceless.” It’s this online “anonymity” that makes technology an attractive vehicle for predators.