The Role of Digital Technology in Child Protection: Still Helping and Harming?

Digital technology represents a major threat to children and young people (CYP) in terms of, for example, the downloading of child abuse images, the grooming of young people online and sexting. Digital technology also offers, though, a means of combating these risks but also of promotong CYP's wellbeing more generally. A special issue of Child Abuse Review was published, in 2005, on the implications of 'new technology' for child protection. Digital technology has progressed massively over the intervening decade, and this led Child Abuse Review to commission a second special issue to provide some analysis of the impact that this technology was having uppn child protection currently. Bernard Gallagher, guest editor of this (and the 2005) special issue provides an overview of the five papers and two training updates that form this 2016 special issue.