Tips For Keeping Children Safe Online: Undercover Underage

Presents   UNDERCOVER UNDERAGE ** Series Subject, Child Activist, and Mother Roo Powell  Available for Select Interview Opportunities to Discuss Steps to Keep Children Safe on Social Media **  Five Important Online Safety Tips for Families from Roo Powell and Her Nonprofit SOSA (Safe from Online Sex Abuse)   1. Build a strong relationship with your child. One of the most important things you can do to protect your kid is to develop trust. Have candid, age-appropriate, regular conversations about everything from the great parts of the internet to some of the tough things they could encounter. If you lay this foundation, they're more likely to come to you if something's wrong.  2. Discuss red flags. Grooming can be very subtle — especially at first. Talk through concrete examples of red flags with your child so they're able to identify when someone they're talking to may be trying to manipulate them. Things to watch for can range from an adult paying them compliments to asking them to keep secrets to asking them to send selfies.  3. Explore social media. The internet is always changing, so it's not possible for you to keep up with every single game, trend, or slang term that's out there. But you can spend time exploring the platforms your kid or teen likes best so that you learn how they work. Bonus points if you look through things together! 4. Set healthy boundaries. Every kid is different, so a tech use rule that works for your family may not work for your kid's BFF. Think through — and clearly communicate — your expectations around which apps and sites your child can use, how much screen time will help them feel their best, and when they should set aside downtime from their devices. You can use built-in platform or device parental controls to help with this. 5. Make a plan. If your kid or teen does ever encounter harm online, the stressful situation can make it difficult for them to know exactly how to react. Take some of that decision-making out of the equation by talking through a plan of action in advance.  Make sure to remind them that they should follow the plan even if someone threatens them online — that's a common tactic perpetrators use to exert power over their victims. Let your child know that if something like this happens, abuse is never their fault, and that you're here to help and support. For additional resources, please visit https://sosatogether.org/blog.  Watch Roo and SOSA in Action in Season 2 of UNDERCOVER UNDERAGE   With 5 Convictions Stemming From 16 Arrests Featured This Season, the Pressure is Palpable Over the Course of 8 Explosive and Intense All-New Episodes Watch the Season 2 Premieres on Monday, May 1st at 9/8c on ID and Streaming the Same Day on discovery+  Featuring SOSA’s Roo Powell, Shelby Chikazawa, Matt Monath, Jordan Pérez, & Canadian County, OK Sheriff's Office’s Major Adam Flowers and Sheriff Chris West Child advocate and Safe from Online Sex Abuse founder Roo Powell will continue her efforts to identify some of the internet’s most dangerous child predators.  Every day, countless minors are exploited, groomed and abused in person and online. Enter Powell and her team at the nonprofit SOSA who work in tandem with law enforcement to apprehend child predators by becoming the targets. After a successful first season resulting in four convictions of sexual predators, SOSA multiplies that number in Season 2 of as the SOSA team relocates to embed with the sheriff’s office in Canadian County, Oklahoma and deploys three new underage decoys. As the team launches the fictitious online accounts for a 15, 14 and even a 12-year-old persona, it’s a race against the clock to identify the ACMs (adults contacting minors) and build a case against the alleged predators to enable law enforcement to make an arrest before the perpetrators can victimize other children. About INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY (ID) Investigation Discovery (ID) is the leading crime network on television, delivering the highest-quality programming to approximately 80 million U.S. households. Viewers can enjoy their favorite shows anytime, anywhere on discovery+, the definitive non-fiction, real-life subscription streaming service. ID's true-crime programming is also available via the network’s aggregated TV Everywhere offering, IDGO, where fans can access thousands of episodes from the Discovery family of networks. For exclusive web content and bonus material, fans can follow ID on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook or check out the network’s true crime blog, CrimeFeed. Investigation Discovery is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a leading global media and entertainment company available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages whose portfolio also includes Discovery Channel, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HBO Max, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and others.