Free · Certificate included
Digital Safety for Youth Volunteers
Keep online communication with minors safe, transparent, and appropriate.
What you’ll learn
- Apply safe, transparent rules for texting, DMs, and social media with minors
- Keep digital contact with minors visible — never one-on-one and private
- Use organization accounts and channels instead of personal ones
- Protect minors’ privacy and images online, with proper photo consent
- Recognize the warning signs of online grooming and report concerns
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Create a free account →Course outline
- 1
Why digital safety is its own skill
A generation ago, the risky moment with a minor was a closed office door.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 2
The golden rule: open and transparent
If you remember one thing from this course, remember this: all electronic communication with a minor should be open and transparent.
6 min Quiz Interactive - 3
Organization accounts vs. your personal phone
When the message goes through you — your personal cell, your personal Instagram — it’s invisible and unaccountable.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 4
Social-media boundaries
Social media blurs two worlds: your personal life and your role with minors.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 5
Photos, video & consent
Photos and video of minors are sensitive data.
4 min Quiz Interactive - 6
Recognizing online grooming
Grooming is the gradual process an offender uses to gain a child’s trust, isolate them, and normalize boundary-crossing before any abuse occurs.
5 min Quiz Interactive - 7
When something feels off: report it
Digital safety isn’t only about your own behavior — it’s about acting when you see a concern.
4 min Quiz Interactive
Sources & further reading
- U.S. Center for SafeSport — Communicate Safely with Minor Athletes (Electronic Communications Policy / MAAPP)
- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) — Online Enticement & CyberTipline Data
- Darkness to Light — Child Sexual Abuse Research & Statistics; Stewards of Children
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-Serving Organizations
- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NetSmartz) — NetSmartz online-safety education resources
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