Listening to Young Voices: Recommendations for Including Children in Investigations of Online Sexual Abuse

Published in 2025

These recommendations are based on insights gathered within the framework of the ELPIS Project in a task led by Children First, Scotland’s national children’s charity in collaboration with HEUNI, the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control. The project involved listening to individual children and young people with direct experiences of online sexual harm, as well as engaging with broader groups of children to understand their views on online harm and professional responses.

The recommendations reflect the voices, preferences, and lived experiences shared by participants during these sessions. For more information on the methodology and a more detailed description of the children’s views, please see ”Children and young people feedback summary” at https://www.childrenfirst.org.uk

The recommendations were developed within the EU-funded project ELPIS (2023-2025). PROMISE ELPIS project promotes multidisciplinary and interagency models for child victims and witnesses of sexual violence, with a specific focus on specialised interventions and excellence in practice in cases where there is a presumed online element of the sexual violence.

The content of the publication represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.