Professional learning · Teachers, Leaders, Staff · 60 minutes
Before It Happens: The Family Talk
A campus team builds, and sends home, a calm, trauma-informed guide that helps families talk with their teen about AI deepfake images and sextortion before a crisis, leading with "come to me, you won't be in trouble" instead of fear.
Families often hear about AI deepfake image abuse and sextortion only after it hits their child or makes the news, and by then fear drives the conversation. This session helps a campus team get ahead of it by building a short, calm, trauma-informed family guide and a plan to get it into homes in the languages families use. Teams learn the essentials, what these images are, that sextortion schemes target teens, that it is never the young person's fault, and what the law and takedown options now provide, and then translate that into warm, plain language a parent can actually use at the kitchen table. The anchor message is relationship, not fear: the single most protective thing a family can do is make sure a teen believes "if this ever happens, come to me and you will not be in trouble." Teams draft conversation starters, a what-to-do-tonight box, and a resource list, and avoid the common traps of scaring teens, blaming victims, or burying the one message that matters.
In this packet
- Handout A: What Families Need to Know (reading)
- Handout B: Build the Family Guide (worksheet)
- Handout C: Get It Home (worksheet)
TCEA ELE indicators
- L5.1 I know how to build strong digital partnerships with families and community organizations.
- L5.2 I can effectively use digital communication tools to share school goals and achievements with stakeholders.
- T4.3 I am aware of the importance of emotional support in academic success.
- AI2.1 I know how to apply ethical principles when using or developing AI for education.
Full facilitator guide: mglearn.github.io/eles/activities/before-it-happens-family-talk.html
Handout A for Before It Happens: The Family Talk
What Families Need to Know
Read with your team. Highlight the 3–4 points that matter most for YOUR families. This is background, not legal advice; verify local specifics.
1What it is: Apps can fabricate realistic nude or sexual images of a real person who never posed. When done to a teen, it is image-based sexual abuse, not a prank, and it can be a crime even when a minor made it.
2Sextortion is rising and targets teens: In sextortion, someone threatens to share real or fake intimate images unless the victim sends money or more images. It targets girls and, very often, boys, frequently through financial schemes. The pressure is designed to make the teen panic and stay silent.
3It is never the young person's fault: Whether an image is real or an AI fake, the blame lies with the person who made or shared or threatened, never the target. This is the belief that lets a teen come forward.
4There is a real path: The 2025 federal Take It Down Act makes non-consensual sharing of intimate images, including deepfakes, a crime and requires platforms to remove reported material quickly. Free services help remove images of minors from participating platforms.
5The steps if it happens: Don't pay and don't comply with threats; save proof of where it is without forwarding it; tell a trusted adult; report to the platform and, with an adult, to law enforcement or the national reporting line; and request takedown. Get emotional support, not just logistics.
6The most protective thing a family can do: Make sure, before anything happens, that the teen knows, "If anyone ever does this to you or threatens you, come to me. You will not be in trouble. I will help you." Shame and fear of punishment are exactly what keep teens silent and in danger.
Handout B for Before It Happens: The Family Talk
Build the Family Guide
Draft a one-page guide for families. Rules: plain, warm language; no graphic detail; no victim-blaming; and make the come-to-me message impossible to miss.
PART 1, What this is (2–3 non-scary sentences a parent can understand):
PART 2, THE ANCHOR MESSAGE (warm wording of "come to me, you won't be in trouble, I'll help you"):
PART 3, WHAT TO DO TONIGHT box (the family's steps if it happens: don't pay/comply, save proof, tell, report, request takedown):
PART 4, Resources (real local contacts: reporting, counseling, takedown help):
Handout C for Before It Happens: The Family Talk
Get It Home
Plan delivery so EVERY family gets this, in their language, and draft conversation starters so it sparks a talk, not just a flyer.
Channels that actually reach ALL our families (not just the engaged ones):
Languages we must produce this in, and who will help make it resonant, not just translated:
Whether we'll pair it with a family event or counselor Q and A, and when:
2–3 conversation starters parents can use at home (e.g., "What would you do if a friend got a fake photo made of them?"):
The one-message test: if a parent remembers ONE thing, is it "come to me, you won't be in trouble"? If not, fix it here: