LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – Every day, children are at risk of being exposed to online predators through social media. However, there are measures parents can take to help prevent their child from being a victim.
7News spoke with one Southwest Louisiana parent whose child was preyed upon by an online predator.
“I had a great, overwhelming fear after that. Very paranoid. It was hard to know what was real and what wasn’t real,” Jessica Shidla said.
Shidla noticed behavioral changes in her daughter, and when she saw the screen in her bedroom window was missing, she was prompted to search her cell phone.
“This person used two fake profiles. One was a teenage model, the other was posing as a suicide prevention group. They built trust with her, they learned personal details,” Shidla said.
Shidla even said that the predator was trying to get her daughter to send inappropriate content and even tried to arrange meetups with her.
Shidla says she intervened just before the situation had escalated, but the experience changed her family’s perspective about social media.
“Life got really hard after that. We had to move. I realized they had known too much about us, and we had to move out of our neighborhood,” Shidla said.
You may not be aware who your child is communicating with on social media platforms; that’s why it’s important to know the signs to look for.
“Like if the child is seeking more privacy, if they’re talking on their phones. That’s one thing I encourage parents to do: know who your children are talking to. Know every username and every password,” Rusty Havens, Southwest Louisiana Abolitionists founder, said.
Havens says they have had 30 families come to them this year about their child being a victim of online exploitation.
He went to Washington to support the “Stop Child Sexual Abuse Material Act” to combat this.
“Tech companies have all of our information. You know why not force them to give all the information they have on these child predators to law enforcement,” Havens said.
To read more about the Stop CSAM Act, click HERE.
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