Go to your child first: say they are not in trouble and ask what happened. Then tell the person who can act. For a school matter, that is the designated safeguarding lead, the staff member responsible for child protection (in a US school, ask the front office who that is). For a sexual image, the police. For distress, a doctor or helpline. School policy and local law decide the details.
Sources checked November 11, 2026. This page does not name the apps that make abusive images or describe how they work.
If your child is in distress right now, or says they want to hurt themselves, deal with that first. In the US, call or text 988, which says it is available 24/7/365. In the UK, call Samaritans on 116 123 or Childline on 0800 1111. For immediate danger, call emergency services (999 in the UK, 911 in the US). An article is not a clinician, and neither is a chatbot.
Who do I tell, depending on what happened?
These groupings are mine, not an official list. Where a source backs a step, it is linked.
A chatbot said something frightening, sexual or harmful to your child. Start with your child, then decide who else needs to know. The American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org, last updated August 27, 2025) says chatbots "may tell kids false, harmful, highly sexual or violent things" and suggests asking whether the chatbot has ever said anything creepy or false. It also says to talk with your child's doctor if they seem withdrawn and prefer talking with chatbots rather than people. Most chat apps have a way to flag a reply. The steps change often, so check the app's help page. If the chat happened on a school account or school device, tell the school too.
Someone made a fake or abusive image of your child. Tell your child it is not their fault, then go to the police and the platform. The NSPCC's guide says: "Save evidence, report it to the platform, and seek removal." It also says to contact the police if needed. It points UK families to its Report Remove tool. In the US, Take It Down describes itself as a free service that can help remove or stop the online sharing of nude, partially nude or sexually explicit images or videos taken of someone under 18. The first hour is covered step by step in what to do if someone made a fake explicit AI image of your child.
Another child used AI against yours. A fake image, an impersonation account or a cruel "joke" made with AI is a school matter as well as a family one. Tell the designated safeguarding lead the same day, in writing. If the image is sexual, the police need to know as well, and the school may report it. Do not contact the other child's family yourself first.
A school-provided AI tool, or a school account, was involved. Write to the designated safeguarding lead and the head or principal. Ask which tool it was, what it recorded and who can see it. These two posts explain the background: what GoGuardian and Gaggle see on a school laptop and the questions to ask your child's school about AI.
Your child is leaning on a chatbot for comfort. That is rarely an emergency, and it is worth a calm conversation before any report. My teen talks to an AI about feelings covers what to say and when to worry. If your child seems withdrawn or distressed, the doctor comes next, not a report to the company.
You are worried but not sure it counts. In the UK, the NSPCC lists a helpline for adults on 0808 800 5000, 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. It also says to contact the police or local Children's Services directly if your concerns increase.
What can I say to my child tonight?
Childnet's advice for parents, whose page is dated January 9, 2018 and so is older than most of what is in this post, sums up the tone in its first two headings: "Don’t get mad, get curious" and try not to place blame. What follows is my suggested wording, by age.
Under 8. You could say: "I'm glad you told me. You did nothing wrong. I'm going to help, and I'll tell you what happens next."
8 to 12. You could say: "I'm not cross. I want to understand what happened. Can you show me, or tell me, and we'll decide together who else needs to know?"
13 to 15. You could say: "I'm not going to take your phone as a punishment. I need to tell someone who can help stop this, and I want you to know before I do it."
16 to 18. You could say: "This is your story, so I want your say in who I tell. There are two things I may need to report whatever we decide, and I'll tell you which."
The 13 to 15 and 16 to 18 lines carry a promise you have to keep. Do not offer "I won't take your phone" unless you mean it. Teenagers who fear losing the device tend to stop telling you things, which is my reading of how this goes, not a finding from a study.
What should the school do when I tell them?
In England, the answer sits in the Department for Education's statutory guidance, Keeping children safe in education, whose 2026 version has been in force since September 1, 2026. Four points I could confirm in its text:
- Every school "should have a designated safeguarding lead" (paragraph 8).
- "If staff have any concerns about a child’s welfare, they should act on them immediately" (paragraph 58).
- The lead may decide whether to "inform parents or carers to further support the child’s wellbeing" (paragraph 60), which means a school can reach out to you as well as you reaching out to it.
- The guidance refers to nude and semi-nude images "wholly generated using artificial intelligence, including what are sometimes described as ‘deepfakes’", so AI-made images are inside its scope.
What I could not find in the sections I read word for word is a route for a parent. The guidance says staff must act on concerns and mentions "responding to any complaints about the way a case has been handled by the school or college" (paragraph 74). It does not set out the steps for a parent. So write to the designated safeguarding lead, and ask for the school's child protection policy and its complaints procedure.
In the US, I have not found one national rule that works the way England's does. State and district policies differ, so ask in writing who handles child safety concerns at the school and what the process is.
A message you can send the school
Send it by email, so there is a dated record. Stick to facts. Do not name other children.
Subject: Safeguarding concern about my child
Dear [name of designated safeguarding lead or counselor],
I am writing about my child, [first name], in [class or grade]. On [date], [what happened, in one or two plain sentences, including the app or tool if you know it and whether it was on a school account or device].
I would like to know: who is dealing with this at the school; what you will do and when; whether other students or families may be affected; and whether a school-provided tool was involved.
Could you please also send me the school's child protection policy and its complaints procedure.
I would appreciate a reply by [date, a few school days ahead]. My child knows I am writing.
Thank you, [your name and phone number]
If you need the school's attention in an emergency, phone the front office as well. An email can sit unread for a day.
What I see in schools
The pattern I see most often is not a school that does not care. It is a parent who wrote to a class teacher or a general inbox, and a message that took days to reach the person who handles child protection. Naming that person in the first line of your message, and asking when you will hear back, cuts the delay. It also shows the school you expect a process, which is fair.
Tell the person who can act, in writing, with dates, and tell your child first.
What can reporting not do?
No step in this post can promise an outcome. Take It Down says it will work on "public or unencrypted online platforms that have agreed to participate" and that platforms "may have limited capabilities to remove content that has already been posted in the past." It also says not to send, share or download any image or video in order to submit to it. The NSPCC's advice to save evidence covers fake or abusive content in general, so for an explicit image of a child, ask the police what you should keep rather than copying it yourself.
A school can act on what happens at school or between its students. It cannot take an app off a device at home. An app company may never reply to a report. And a chatbot's reassurance is not a safeguarding decision.
When do school rules, age limits or professional advice come first?
Emergency services and the police come first where a child is in danger or an explicit image exists. A doctor, pediatrician (in the UK, your GP) or a helpline comes before any report when your child is distressed. The school's own child protection policy governs what the school does. An app's age limit never changes your decision to report: a child who used an app they were too young for still needs help, not a lecture, and that is my view as an educator rather than a rule.
If your child's school has not spoken to parents about AI yet, or you could not tell who handles these concerns, this is the work I do with schools: a guide to what a school AI policy should include. It is worth sending to your head of year or principal.
A family agreement helps before anything goes wrong. A one-page template is on the site. I write a Sunday newsletter that keeps teachers and parents up to date without the panic, and parents are very welcome to join it.
Dan Fitzpatrick is a former secondary teacher and assistant headteacher, a school trustee, founder of The AI Educator, and has trained more than 150,000 educators. About Dan.
