Digital risks to children: where does the role of centres for social work begin and end?

Key messages

• The digital environment is an integral part of children’s lives and increasingly presents risks that require a response from centres for social work (CSWs). The digital context must therefore become part of routine assessments of a child’s safety, development and rights, as well as family functioning.
• International standards and national legislation provide a basis for protecting children. However, they do not provide a consistent framework for what practitioners should do after receiving a report, what information they should collect, how they should assess risk or how they should document their decisions.
• CSWs do not conduct criminal investigations and do not need to prove that an unlawful act has occurred before initiating an assessment and supporting a child. Identifying perpetrators, verifying the authenticity of content and determining legal responsibility are matters for the police, public prosecutors and the courts.
• Practitioners must determine whether a child is at risk and how urgently action is needed, what information is required for the assessment, how to involve the child and parents, what support to provide and when to notify other authorities. In the digital context, they must also decide how extensively to review communications, how to handle digital material and how to document their decisions.
• These questions cannot be resolved solely through the judgement of individual practitioners or by a single profession or institution. A professional consensus is needed, grounded in children’s rights, practice experience and a clear allocation of responsibilities.
• Without such a framework, practice will remain inconsistent and dependent on individual experience. This may lead to delays in protecting children, unnecessary intrusions into their privacy, inappropriate handling of data and different responses to similar situations.
• The publication identifies twelve areas where clearer rules and guidance are needed, ranging from assessment and support for children to documentation, intersectoral cooperation and professional support for staff.

About the publication

The expert commentary Digital risks to children: where does the role of centres for social work begin and end? examines an issue that arises increasingly in CSW practice but has yet to be addressed through a coherent framework: how practitioners should respond when a child faces risks on social media, in online games, on digital platforms or in private electronic communications.

The publication draws on international standards for protecting children’s rights in the digital environment, alongside national legislation and protocols that address specific aspects of the issue. It focuses on the questions underlying each individual decision: what CSWs can and should establish to protect a child, where the responsibilities of other authorities begin, and how to ensure children’s safety while respecting their rights to privacy and participation.

The commentary aims to identify unresolved professional and legal questions, encourage the exchange of experience and professional discussion, and provide a starting point for further work in this field. It does not seek to provide a ready-made answer for every situation. Further work includes developing methodological guidance for practitioners, a practical guide, procedural models, training programmes and mechanisms for ongoing professional support.

What the publication covers

The commentary begins with the standards set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 25 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)7 and the European strategy for a better internet for kids (BIK+). It then maps the national legal framework, from the Constitution and the Family Law to legislation on social protection, personal data protection, information security and cybercrime.

The main section examines seven groups of challenges encountered in practice: age restrictions on digital platforms, risk assessment and the limits of CSWs’ responsibilities, the relationship between children’s privacy and safety, parental responsibility, the handling of digital material, a child’s role in a particular incident, and intersectoral cooperation. Particular attention is given to content that may have been altered or generated using artificial intelligence.

The publication concludes by identifying twelve areas where clearer rules and guidance are needed to help practitioners make decisions with greater confidence, clearer reasoning and greater consistency. All claims and conclusions are supported by 19 national and international legal and professional sources.

Who the publication is for

The publication is primarily intended for practitioners, supervisors, lawyers and managers working in CSWs. It is also relevant to policymakers, other social protection institutions, schools, the police, public prosecutors, courts, civil society organisations and professionals concerned with protecting children’s rights in the digital environment.

The commentary offers a concise overview of what the existing framework covers and which questions remain unresolved. It can encourage the exchange of practical experience and discussion of professional dilemmas, while providing a starting point for developing methodologies, practical tools, training and more consistent approaches to practice.

Suggested citation: Antić, V., Bošnjaković, I. and Milanović, M. (2026). Digital risks to children: where does the role of centres for social work begin and end? Centre for Research and Social Development IDEAS and the Association of Social Protection Lawyers “Argument”.