270 – How Can Parents Defend Children?

In this episode, Dr. Sandie Morgan is joined by Brooke Istook from Thorn to discuss how parents can protect their children through equipping themselves with knowledge and resources. They dive into research on child sexual abuse materials and look at studies demonstrating the difficulties youth are having navigating in an increasing digital environment. Brooke Istook Brooke Istook is Vice President of Youth and Communities at Thorn, a tech non-profit and global leader in fighting online child sexual abuse.  She leads Thorn’s education and behavior change work to prevent online child sexual abuse.  Brooke and her team use child-centered research and digital interventions to empower youth and families with knowledge and tools to navigate the digital world safely.  Brooke joined Thorn in 2014 to lead the launch of Spotlight, a sex trafficking investigation tool and has also led critical strategic and operational initiatives across the organization to support their strategy to eliminate child sexual abuse material from the internet.  Prior to joining Thorn, Brooke spent over 12 years working in tech consulting, operations, and program management, supporting Fortune 500 clients in telecommunications and entertainment. Key Points Thorn develops programming that focuses on equipping parents to have conversations with their children, even when a digital divide exists from lack of experience and knowledge. In 2020, over 65 million images and videos of child sexual abuse material were reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Research has demonstrated that for tweens and teens, age gaps become more blurry and difficult to navigate in an online space compared to in-person. Thorn research showed that one in five 9 to 12-year-olds that were surveyed had had a sexual interaction with someone they believed to be an adult. Thorn for Parents has developed toolkits and conversation guides for parents on how to have conversations with their child(ren) about digital safety, privacy, and red flags. Resources NoFiltr TikTok campaign Thorn for Parents - Be Your Kid's Safety Net Thorn's Research and Resources Love the show? Consider supporting us on Patreon! Become a Patron Transcript Dave [00:00:00] You're listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 270, How Can Parents Defend Children? with Thorns Brooke Istook. Production Credits [00:00:10] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential. Dave [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak. Sandie [00:00:35] My name is Sandie Morgan. Dave [00:00:37] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, today we're glad to welcome another expert with us, Brooke Istook. She is vice president of youth and communities at Thorn, a tech nonprofit and global leader in fighting online child sexual abuse. She leads Thorn's education and behavior change work to prevent online child sexual abuse. Brooke and her team use child centered research and digital interventions to empower youth and families with knowledge and tools to navigate the digital world safely. Brooke, we're so glad to have you on the show today. Brooke [00:01:17] Oh, thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here. Sandie [00:01:21] I've already had a couple of conversations by phone and email, and I'm so excited about the content of our conversation today. I've been following Thorn for a long time and Thorn's work has leveraged technology in ways that are innovative, including building software to help both law enforcement and tech companies stop online child sexual abuse and trafficking. And recently,