Sources.

1. Childlight Global Child Safety Institute. (2024). Into the light index: Global estimates of online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
   
   
2. Child Crime Prevention & Safety Center. (2026). Online predator statistics.
   
   
3. UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti. (2021). Investigating risks and opportunities for children in a digital world: A rapid review of the evidence. https://unicef.org/innocenti/media/5621/file/UNICEF-Investigating-Risks-Opportunities-Children-Digital-World-2021.pdf

    
My daughter, Julie, is the greatest joy of my life. It’s just been the two of us since she was little. As a single mom, I am deeply grateful that we have always shared a close bond.

I tried my best to make sure Julie knew she could come to me about anything. No judgment. No matter what. And for most of her childhood, it felt like she came to me with just about everything. The boys she liked, the pressures she was feeling from other kids at her school, and her struggles with self-image.

But something shifted. At first, I thought it was just her getting older; she was 14 after all. But I couldn’t ignore that my typically bubbly and easy-going girl seemed more reserved, quiet, and anxious. She started spending more time in her room and rarely hung out with her friends anymore. I tried to ask her what was going on, but this only made her very upset. I decided to drop it and simply trust that she would come to me when she was ready.

Never in my worst nightmares could I have imagined what was really going on.

I will never forget the morning I found out. It was early autumn, and Julie had just begun high school. I needed to check her soccer practice schedule, so I logged into her email, which I had always had access to. I couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I decided to check her deleted folder. At the top of this folder was a PayPal notification that she had received a $500 payment from a name I didn’t recognize.

My heart sank. I kept looking…and this wasn’t the only payment she had received.

I wouldn’t normally do this, but I started going through her iPad and computer. I couldn’t believe what I had found: photos and videos, dozens of them, of my daughter…my little girl exposed and featured in explicit content.

My mind was racing. “How could this have happened?” “How did I not know?” I felt sick to my stomach and broken for what she had been facing beyond closed doors in my own home.

I did the only thing I knew to do at the time. I called 911 and reported what I had seen and the names in her inbox. I then went to her school and picked her up. I let her know on the car ride what I had found and that there would be police waiting at home who wanted to help her. I have never seen her cry like she did that day. This wasn’t something she was “caught” doing, but something that she was “caught” in and couldn’t get out of on her own. The relief in her eyes broke my heart.

I sat with her as she shared her story with the police. She had met someone online she believed was a boy her age, and he became her first “boyfriend.” After months of talking, he asked her for nude photos. She had never done anything like that before, but she cared about him, and her friends had told her this kind of thing was normal in relationships.

After she sent the first image, everything changed. He became aggressive and demanding. He threatened to expose her to her family and friends if she didn’t continue sending content. Because he had also sent her small payments, she felt complicit and responsible. In reality, she had been groomed and manipulated by a middle-aged man who was profiting from her exploitation.

Law enforcement helped get initial details that day, but let me know that this was going to be a process and that there is an organization called A21 that helps children like Julie. Since getting connected, they have been with us every step of the way. Through their Aftercare Team, she’s been able to receive mental health support, trauma-informed care, and has been able to connect with other kids who have walked through something similar.

I’m not sure if she will ever be the same after what’s happened to her, but every day I see a little more of her confidence return. Thank you, A21, and to everyone who has made my daughter’s road to healing possible.

Sources.

4. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (2025). Child sexual abuse material (CSAM). https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/csam 

    
Hi, my name is Daniel, and I am a survivor of online child sexual exploitation. It’s been years since it happened, but I only now feel ready to share my story.

Growing up, I always struggled to make friends. I did everything I could. I tried different sports, attempted to join clubs, but my social anxiety made it hard for me to connect with kids my own age, even when I mustered up the courage to put myself out there.

Eventually, I turned to the one thing that always brought me comfort: gaming. Every day, I’d come home from school and hop online. On weekends, I’d do the same.

What was cool was that I actually started to make friends and would play consistently with the same group of people. I found it easier to meet people this way. They couldn’t tell if I did anything “awkward,” and there wasn’t pressure to have something to say all the time.

There were a couple of girls who would play with the group, but one who I noticed right away. Her name was Sam. She was one of the best players in the group, and we had the same sense of humor. Eventually, we started talking one-on-one and playing games together long after everyone else had gone to bed.

One night, without me asking, Sam sent me a nude photo. I didn’t know what to do at first. I had never had anything like this happen. Before I even had the chance to respond, she said, “Your turn.” I felt a little uneasy, but thought it was just because this was my first time. I took a few photos and sent one back.

I had no idea that that night would change my life forever.

From that point onwards, things turned upside down. I came face-to-face with the reality that this girl I liked wasn’t who I thought she was. “Sam” was actually a guy in his mid-twenties. Once he revealed who he was to me, he threatened to leak my photos to my family and people at my school. He even knew the name of my school and some of my classmates. I was so scared.

He said I could keep that from happening if I paid him. I didn’t have a job or any way to do what he asked. This is when he told me I could set up a webcamming account and be paid by other people for similar content I sent him. Feeling like I had no other choice, I did what he said.

This went on for more than a year. If I didn’t make more content and send him money, I was berated and threatened. I lived in constant fear of the truth coming out. I got so depressed during that time that I started feeling like hurting myself would help make the pain go away.

Finally, my friend Luke asked me again (for like the 10th time) if I was okay. I broke down. And for the first time, I told someone everything that had happened. I thought he was going to stop being my friend and that I would feel worse, but I felt so relieved that someone knew.

That one choice kicked off a chain of events. Luke and I shared with one of my teachers what was happening. She reached out to my parents and law enforcement. The police took my story right away, but then also connected my family and me with A21.

Through A21, I learned that what happened to me is also happening to other kids and that some of the worst kinds of online abuse were happening to other boys. They helped me a lot in processing what happened. With their support, I was able to return to school and continue counseling until I felt more like myself again. Even though it’s been some time since this all happened, I still stay in touch and know that they’re there for me.

Sources.

5. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (2025). Child sexual abuse material (CSAM). https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/csam