Youth Safety Policy
How On The Beat MD protects members under 18, including guardian linkage, consent, and escalation.
Youth account features are built but switched off. They will not be activated until safeguarding, privacy, and security review is complete and signed off.
Age routing
Under 13: public learning content only. No account messaging, no profile, no directory presence.
13 to 17: account requires a linked guardian or approved responsible adult before any interactive feature becomes available.
18 and over: standard member account.
Guardian linkage and two-layer consent
A youth account remains in Pending Guardian Approval until a guardian is verified and linked.
Consent is recorded twice — by the young person and by the guardian — with actor, date, scope, verification method, and policy version stored against the record.
Guardians can review activity, adjust scope, and withdraw consent at any time.
Protected communication
Messages involving a minor are held on-platform, mirrored to the linked guardian, and are not deletable by either participant.
Automated filtering flags attempts to exchange personal contact details or move the conversation off-platform.
Report a Concern
Any member can raise a concern. Reports progress through received, triaged, investigating, action taken, referred, closed, and appealed.
Every action is written to an audit log. Concerns involving risk of harm are escalated immediately in line with mandated reporting obligations.