In the cases we see at Enable Law, online harm is rarely an isolated issue. More often, it is a persistent and escalating feature of a child’s life, woven into wider patterns of neglect, emotional abuse, instability, and exploitation. Yet it remains striking how frequently this harm is misunderstood, minimised, or treated as something that does not quite meet safeguarding thresholds.
On Safer Internet Day, our Abuse Team reflects on how failures to recognise and respond to online exploitation can amount to serious child protection failures — and, in some cases, breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Online harm and the child protection failures we regularly encounter
In an increasing number of our “failure to remove” cases, children are known to be engaging in high-risk online behaviour from a young age: being groomed by older individuals, sharing sexual images under pressure or coercion, being threatened or blackmailed, or forming unsafe relationships through social media.
What is often missing is not awareness, but decisive action. Online exploitation is recorded, risk-assessed, discussed — and then downgraded. It is described as “concerning but not acute”, “historic”, or “reduced”, even where patterns clearly persist. Meanwhile, the child’s circumstances continue to deteriorate.
In many cases, online harm is treated as secondary to physical abuse or domestic instability, rather than recognised as a serious form of abuse in its own right, and a powerful indicator that a child is at real and immediate risk of further harm.
When online exploitation is not seen as a “real and immediate” risk
Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights imposes a positive obligation on the State to take reasonable steps to protect children from inhuman or degrading treatment where authorities know, or ought to know, of a real and immediate risk.
In our experience, online exploitation often falls through the cracks of this analysis. Children may be known to be at risk for months or even years, with repeated referrals, high exploitation scores, police involvement, and professional concern — yet still remain without a clear protective framework or timely legal intervention.
Thresholds are sometimes applied as though harm must be physical, visible, or immediate in a narrow sense. This overlooks the reality that online grooming, coercion, and sexual exploitation cause profound psychological harm, particularly for children whose vulnerabilities are already well-documented.
Article 3 does not require certainty, nor does it require harm to reach its worst possible expression. It requires foresight — and timely, protective action.
The consequences of delay and drift
Where online harm is not properly understood or prioritised, the consequences can be severe.
Children may remain in unsafe or unstable environments for prolonged periods, experiencing repeated placement breakdowns, disrupted education, fractured attachments, and escalating trauma.
By the time protective measures are finally implemented, they are often highly restrictive, involving intense supervision, removal of devices, and limitations on liberty — sometimes without appropriate legal authorisation. For children who have already experienced instability and rejection, this can feel punitive rather than protective, compounding feelings of shame, isolation, and loss of autonomy.
These outcomes are not inevitable. They are frequently the result of delay, inconsistent decision-making, and a failure to treat online exploitation as an urgent safeguarding concern from the outset.
Safeguarding must reflect children’s digital lives
Children do not experience their lives in “online” and “offline” compartments. The digital world is a central arena in which harm occurs, relationships are formed, and exploitation takes place. Safeguarding systems that fail to reflect this reality are incomplete.
Risk assessments that marginalise online behaviour, or view it as something a child should simply “manage better”, misunderstand both the nature of exploitation and the impact of trauma. A child’s apparent compliance, minimisation, or resistance to intervention should never be mistaken for safety.
Recognising digital risks alongside physical ones is not an expansion of safeguarding duties — it is a necessary evolution of them.
Why safer internet day matters in abuse claims
For the Abuse Team at Enable Law, Safer Internet Day is not just about awareness. It is about accountability. It is an opportunity to highlight how systemic failures to respond to online harm can leave children exposed to prolonged suffering, engaging the State’s obligations under Articles 3, 5, and 8 of the Convention.
The cases we act in show that when online exploitation is not treated as a safeguarding emergency, children pay the price — often for years. Ensuring a safer internet must therefore include ensuring that professionals, agencies, and decision-makers recognise online harm for what it is: a serious, foreseeable, and preventable risk to children’s rights and dignity.
How Enable Law can help you
Enable Law is a leading national firm supporting survivors of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, including cases of historical child abuse.
We understand how difficult it can be to come forward, particularly when abuse happened many years ago. Our specialist lawyers provide clear, compassionate advice and help survivors seek justice, secure compensation, and access the therapeutic support they need.
If you or someone you know has experienced abuse – even if it took place in the past – we are here to listen and help.
You can contact us on 0800 044 8488 or fill in the form and a member of our team will call you back at a time that suits you.
