Clear Path step · Business · Your industry's rules and risks
Apply your safeguarding rules to digital contact with minors
Why it matters: The two-adult rule should cover messages as well as rooms. Clear rules protect children and the volunteers who serve them.
On your path if you picked “Nonprofit or faith community” for “What's your industry?”.
Do it
- Choose approved channels for youth communication and include parents or a second adult.
- Ban one-to-one private messaging with minors.
- Train leaders on sextortion: don't pay, preserve evidence, report to NCMEC's CyberTipline.
- Review the rule yearly.
Check it worked: Youth leaders communicate with minors only through approved group channels with another adult included, never private messages, and know how to respond to sextortion reports.
Simply put
It's the two-adult rule you already use in rooms, applied to messages. Group channels with a second adult protect children from grooming and protect the volunteers who serve them, and leaders know what to do if something happens.
In detail
Only applies to organizations with youth programs; it is a safeguarding policy with a digital edge.
Points toward the Long View: safeguarding that covers every channel young people use with you.