Chat Forensics

Free guidance for parents and carers

Worried about your teenager's messages?

This page is free and there is nothing to buy. We do not read or analyse children's chats. Here is how to talk to your child, what not to do with what you have seen, and who in the UK can help.

If a child is in danger now

If a child is in immediate danger, call 999

If they are not in immediate danger but you are worried, you can talk it through with the NSPCC Helpline, and your child can talk to Childline at any time.

Outside the UK, call your local emergency number.

Who can help

These UK services are free. None of them needs you to upload or send anyone's messages to get advice.

NSPCC Helpline

For parents, carers and any adult worried about a child.

Trained helpline staff can talk through what you have seen, what it might mean and what to do next. You do not need to be sure something is wrong before you call. Go to the NSPCC Helpline website

Call, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm: 0808 800 5000

Email, 11am to 4pm, any day: help@nspcc.org.uk

Childline

For anyone in the UK under 19. Free and confidential, day or night.

Your child can call, or chat online with a counsellor, about anything that is worrying them, without giving their name. It can help to tell them about it before they need it. Go to the Childline website

Call free, 24 hours: 0800 1111

CEOP Safety Centre

Run by the National Crime Agency. For young people, and for adults reporting on a child's behalf.

Report online sexual contact with a child, grooming, or the way someone has been talking to a child online if it worries you. One of CEOP's experienced Child Protection Advisors will be there to make sure you get the help you need. Make a report to CEOP

Report Remove

Run by Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation. For young people in the UK under 18.

If a nude or sexual image or video of your child has been shared online, or they fear it will be, they can report it through Childline, and the Internet Watch Foundation will try to get it taken down where it appears online. It cannot remove images from private messaging apps like WhatsApp, or from someone's phone or computer. Your child makes the report and sends the image securely themselves, and you can sit with them while they do. Go to Report Remove on Childline

Talking to your child

What you do first usually matters more than anything a chat shows. Young people are more likely to tell you what is happening if they are not afraid of losing their phone or getting into trouble.

  1. Pick a calm moment and a private place. Side by side, in the car or on a walk, is often easier than face to face.
  2. Say what you noticed and why it worried you, without blaming them.
  3. Listen more than you talk. Let them finish, even if what they say is hard to hear.
  4. Tell them they are not in trouble for telling you, and that you will not take their phone away because of it.
  5. Agree the next step together, such as blocking someone, reporting an account or calling one of the services below.
  6. Remind them they can call Childline on 0800 1111 at any time if there is something they would rather not tell you.

If there are sexual images of a young person

  • Do not copy, screenshot, save, forward or upload the image, even to show someone or to report it. Sharing a sexual image of anyone under 18 is a crime in the UK. The one exception is Report Remove, where your child sends the image securely to the Internet Watch Foundation themselves.
  • Leave it where it is. Note the account name, the app and the date instead.
  • Do not delete the account or the conversation. The police or CEOP may need them.
  • If the image has been shared online, your child can use Report Remove to try to get it taken down where it appears online. It cannot remove images from private messaging apps like WhatsApp, or from someone's phone or computer.
  • If someone is pressuring your child for images or money, report it to CEOP. If they are in immediate danger, call 999.

Why we do not offer a report on a young person's chat

Our service is for adults reading conversations they took part in themselves. Uploads must involve adult participants only: you must have taken part in the chat, be 18 or over, and everyone in it must be an adult. Please do not upload a chat that involves anyone under 18. There is no report for parents to check a child's messages.

  • Keeping young people safe online needs trained people, not software. A tool that found nothing could reassure you when it should not.
  • A young person's chat can contain images that must not be copied or sent on, including to us.
  • Reading a young person's private messages without them knowing can make it harder for them to come to you when it matters.