Reporting an image or an adult
Screenshot the evidence before anything is deleted, tell your child plainly that they are not in trouble, and report it. Images of someone under 18 can be reported through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and its Take It Down service can have copies removed from participating platforms without the image itself being sent anywhere.
If you need help now
Call 911 if someone is unresponsive or badly hurt. Call or text 988 for thoughts of suicide or self harm. Both are free and open all day and night. All crisis resources
Say the first thing out loud
A child being extorted over a photograph is the victim of a crime. They are almost certainly not assuming that, and the longer nobody says it, the more convinced they become of the opposite.
Say it early and say it plainly. Everything practical below works better once they believe it.
Do not delete anything yet
The instinct is to make it disappear. Screenshot first: the messages, the account name, the profile, the timestamps.
If an adult is involved, or if there is a threat, this material matters to the people who investigate it, and it is routinely gone by the time anyone asks.
Where to report
The CyberTipline at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children takes reports about the sexual exploitation of children, including images and adults making contact. Reports can come from a parent.
Its Take It Down service works differently and is worth understanding: it creates a digital fingerprint of the image on your own device and sends only that fingerprint, not the image. Participating platforms use it to find and remove copies. A young person can use it themselves.
Reporting to the platform as well is worth doing, and it is not a substitute for the above.
If your child is the one who sent it
This happens, and it changes the tone of the conversation more than it changes the practical steps. The reporting routes above are still the right ones.
What does not help is a punishment delivered in the first hour. The thing that keeps a young person safe over the next month is that they will tell you the next time.
Sources referenced on this page
- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, CyberTipline. Verified 2026-09-04, primary source.
- Take It Down, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Verified 2026-09-04, primary source.
Three different kinds of help
These are separate on purpose. A parent looking for clinical help should never arrive in a legal intake queue by accident.
Getting help
A family doctor first, the school counselor second, a therapist third. The first two are faster and cheaper, and both can refer you onward.
Finding helpWe do not provide treatment and take no payment from anyone who does.
The lawsuits
How the claims work, what has to be shown, and why the deadlines are different for a child. This comes second to getting your child care, and that is not a formality.
How the lawsuits workContacting us does not create an attorney client relationship, and what you send is not confidential or privileged.
Reporting and resources
Reporting an image or an adult, what a school can actually do, and the organizations worth your time.
ResourcesNobody pays to be listed and listing is not endorsement.