Research
What we found checking 32 child help services in six countries
Every country we covered has a free child helpline and an emergency number. Fewer offer text, a route for young people to remove their own images, or say which languages they support.
Pilot
Global Safety Resource Directory
A directory of help services for children, checked by us entry by entry and dated, growing one country at a time.
What it is
The directory behind our Get Help and Report a Concern pages. Each entry is an existing service: an emergency number, a child helpline, a specialist hotline, a regulator. We describe each one only as it describes itself, link to its official site, and record who checked it and when.
Where it stands
The pilot covers international services and six countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. We chose them because their services publish clear, stable information in English that we can check directly. Other countries will follow as we can check them properly, ideally with people who live there and speak the language.
How entries are checked
- The official page is opened and read by a member of the team.
- Phone numbers, hours and the service's remit are copied from that page, not from other directories.
- An entry not re-checked for twelve months disappears from the site automatically.
- Anyone can tell us about an error or a service we have missed.
What it is not
A listing is not a partnership and not an endorsement of everything a service does. KIFOV does not run any of these services and cannot answer on their behalf.
Published work from this programme
Research
What we found checking 32 child help services in six countries
Every country we covered has a free child helpline and an emergency number. Fewer offer text, a route for young people to remove their own images, or say which languages they support.
Impact
The KIFOV help directory now covers six countries and 32 verified services
In its first days, the directory grew from four countries to six. Every listing was checked by hand on the service's own site.
Statement
Why KIFOV starts with a help directory, not a hotline
We could have launched with a reporting form and big promises. We chose to begin with something smaller that works: a checked, dated route to the people who can act.
News
21.3 million reports in a year: what NCMEC’s 2025 CyberTipline data shows about risks to children
Reports of online enticement rose 158% and child sex trafficking reports 323%. The figures are a record of what was reported, which is not the same as a measure of how often children are harmed.
Explainer
Take It Down, Report Remove and NeedHelpNow: how services that remove young people’s images actually work
Hashing, hotlines and platform requests are three different mechanisms. Knowing which one you are using tells you what it can and cannot do.
Guide
How to report sexual images of a child that you find online, without putting yourself or the child at risk
Report the web address, never the file. A step-by-step route to the hotline that can have it removed, for four countries and everywhere else.