Some risks that should be kept in mind include:

• The opportunity for grooming/sexual exploitation
• Sharing of personal contact details of young people and youth workers
• Inappropriate conversations between young people and workers
• Potential allegations against workers
• Use of apps with minimum age restrictions
• The facilitation of abusive or unkind behaviour (cyber-bullying) between young people
• Particular risks associated with children in care or those known to children’s services

ThirtyOneEight and Youthscape: Creating safer places online.
This is the most useful place to start if you are looking for guidance for communicating and working safely with young people online.

Church of England: Guidance for the safe use of video-calling with young people.

National Youth Agency: Online youth work safety guidelines.

Youth for Christ: If you have never ventured online much, there are some great tips in these films to get you started. If you are a seasoned pro, then the safeguarding film will help you as you shift your communication online. Getting started guides how to safely use the most popular  platforms.

NSPCC Learning: resources to help keep children and young people safe while teaching in a remote or unusual setting. Topics covered include: consent; contacting children at home; child protection concerns; online safety and mental health and wellbeing.

NSPCC Learning: how to have difficult conversations with children including information about talking to children about coronavirus. The content covers: preparing for a conversation, having a conversation and support from Childline.

Childline: Information for children and young people about coronavirus. The page includes information about: what coronavirus is; where children and young people can find help if they are worried; coping if they are staying at home; and what to do if they are feeling unwell.