Opposing Showing CSAM and Sexted Images to Parents, Guardians, and Other Adults
As the leading organization of professionals who serve children and families affected by child maltreatment, the Association of Professionals Solving the Abuse of Children (APSAC) has the responsibility and expertise to advocate for policies and practices that protect children, youths, and families. APSAC joins other organizations in the battle against a child sexual abuse epidemic enabled by the Internet: the production and distribution of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In 2024, 29.2 million separate incidents of child sexual exploitation were submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Cyber Tip Line (NCMEC, 2025)
A 2013 APSAC position statement describes how CSAM harms children (APSAC, 2013). In addition to the substantial harm created by the child sexual abuse used to make CSAM, victims suffer further from the sense of vulnerability from having their abuse filmed, the shame and embarrassment of having this material available to the world, and the fear of being identified. In many cases, child victims suffer the horror that their CSAM video or photographs could be used to manipulate and harm other children, could lead to further adult sexual gratification, and may endure forever on the Internet.
However, there are many cases where youths willingly create and share sexual images of themselves with peers or others, usually by online, digital means. There is great risk that their images could be used in ways that harm them, including “sextortion”—others using the threat of disseminating the images to gain money and/or control over the youth, or further dissemination by recipients and others to pornographic websites. Further, this consensual image production could still meet certain legal definitions for the criminal possession or distribution of child pornography, and is especially concerning if adults receive these images and redistribute them.
When school authorities and others respond to sexual images of youths being disseminated, these adults sometimes show the images of the child or youth to parents, guardians, or other adults. This is very likely to exacerbate the harm to children and youths, and may damage any criminal prosecution. The language in the “sexted” messages accompanying the sexual images, if read to or by others, may also damage the youth’s relationships, particularly with parents.