Children’s access to child protection social work through mobile apps

Abstract Direct reporting of child abuse by children themselves is rare. Children’s communication is increasingly managed through mobile phones and associated apps. Yet little is currently known about how statutory child protection services might be accessed through apps to support direct reports, or to find out about statutory child abuse responses. The objective of the present study was to identify the characteristics of apps that included reference to child abuse and to understand how a child might report if they had concerns. Searches of Google and Apple app stores were conducted at four intervals over a nine-year period from 2014 to 2023. Developer descriptions of apps containing terms relevant to child abuse were thematically analysed according to the app categorization in the store, target user, and child abuse report function. A total of 258 apps met the child abuse app inclusion criteria, <001 percent of all apps available. Just over a third were targeted at children, and a quarter at professionals. Seventeen applications enabled the reporting of child abuse concerns, of which six were aimed at children. Barriers to access included organizational membership and locality. Apps continue to rely on the NGO sector, schools, and health (i.e. adults) to report abuse.