1. Purpose and Scope

This Child Safety Standards Policy ("Child Safety Policy") establishes Furry Refuge, Inc.'s binding standards for the protection of minors from sexual abuse, exploitation, and harmful material. This policy applies to all users, moderators, staff, contractors, and any other individuals who access or use any platform, service, application, website, or community operated by Furry Refuge, Inc. (collectively, the "Platform").

This Child Safety Policy supplements and is incorporated into our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct. In the event of any conflict between this policy and any other policy, the stricter of the two applies with respect to child safety.

2. Definitions

For the purposes of this policy, the following terms have the meanings set out below:

"Child" or "Minor" means any person under the age of 18 years.

"Child Sexual Abuse Material" (CSAM) means any content — including but not limited to images, videos, audio, written text, illustrations, animations, AI-generated content, or other media — that depicts, describes, simulates, or otherwise represents a minor engaged in, subjected to, or victimized by sexually explicit conduct. This includes material that may be fictional or stylized in nature (including drawings or computer-generated images), where the intent or effect is the sexualization of a minor or minor-coded character.

"Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation" (CSAE) means any act of sexual abuse, grooming, coercion, trafficking, solicitation, or exploitation directed at or involving a child, whether carried out in person or facilitated or enabled through the Platform. This includes online behaviors that are preparatory to or constitute offline child sexual abuse.

"Grooming" means any pattern of behavior — including communication, gift-giving, trust-building, isolation, or desensitization — by which an individual seeks to gain a child's trust (or that of a parent, caregiver, or third party) for the purpose of sexually exploiting or abusing that child.

"Minor-Coded Character" means any fictional character — whether human, anthropomorphic, or otherwise — who is depicted, described, or presented in such a way as to be recognizably or reasonably understood as a minor, regardless of any stated or implied fictional age.

3. Absolute Prohibitions

The following are absolutely prohibited on the Platform in all circumstances, without exception, and regardless of any fictional, artistic, fantasy, or roleplay framing:

● Any CSAM, as defined above, including real photographs or videos of minors; illustrations, drawings, 3D renders, or AI-generated depictions of minors in sexual contexts; and written or text-based sexual content involving minors.
● Any content that sexualizes or fetishizes minor-coded characters, regardless of any stated fictional age.
● Any grooming behavior toward a minor, including establishing contact for the purpose of exploitation, sending or soliciting sexual content from a minor, or attempting to arrange in-person meetings with a minor for sexual purposes.
● Any solicitation, distribution, exchange, or possession of CSAM, whether originating from the Platform or elsewhere.
● Any attempt to recruit, coerce, deceive, or pressure a minor into participating in sexual activity or providing sexual content, whether on the Platform or off it.
● Any content that normalizes, glorifies, promotes, or trivializes child sexual abuse, exploitation, or grooming.
● Any attempt to use the Platform to gain access to minors for the purpose of exploitation, abuse, or grooming.
● Sharing personal information about a minor (such as name, location, school, or contact details) in a sexual or predatory context.

4. Age Verification and Platform Access

Furry Refuge operates two distinct tiers of access:

General / family-friendly areas: Our main community spaces — including general chat channels, public forums, and other non-adult areas — are family friendly and accessible without age verification. These areas are designed to be appropriate for all audiences and must remain free of adult or sexually explicit content at all times.

Adult content areas: Access to any area of the Platform that hosts or permits adult or sexually explicit content requires age verification. Users must verify that they are at least 18 years of age before accessing these areas. By completing age verification and accessing adult content areas, users represent and warrant that they are at least 18 years old and that it is lawful for them to access such content in their jurisdiction.

Regardless of tier, the absolute prohibitions in Section 3 — including the ban on all CSAM and the sexualization of minors or minor-coded characters — apply everywhere on the Platform without exception.

If we become aware that a user who has accessed adult content areas may be a minor, we will promptly require that user to complete identity verification to confirm they are at least 18 years of age. Access to adult content areas will be suspended pending verification. If the user fails to provide satisfactory verification, or if verification confirms the user is a minor, their account will be suspended or permanently terminated and any associated content will be removed in accordance with applicable law.

5. Content Moderation and Detection

Furry Refuge relies on community-driven reporting and human moderation to identify and remove prohibited content:

● User reports: Any user can report suspected CSAM or grooming behavior at any time, from anywhere on the Platform, by using the /report command or by pinging @admin in any chat. Reports are prioritized and reviewed promptly by our moderation team.
● Human moderation: Trained moderators review all flagged content and reports. Moderators are required to complete child safety training before performing moderation duties.
● Escalation: Reports involving suspected CSAM or active grooming are immediately escalated to a designated Safety Lead for urgent review and action.

Content identified as CSAM is immediately removed and preserved as evidence. Access to such content is strictly limited to personnel involved in its review for reporting and evidentiary purposes.

6. Reporting Obligations and Law Enforcement Cooperation

Furry Refuge is committed to full cooperation with law enforcement agencies and child protection organizations in all matters relating to child safety.

Mandatory reporting: Where required by applicable law — including, but not limited to, 18 U.S.C. § 2258A (PROTECT Our Children Act) in the United States — Furry Refuge will make mandatory reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline upon becoming aware of apparent CSAM on our Platform. Reports will be made promptly upon discovery.

Preservation of evidence: Upon becoming aware of potential CSAM or CSAE, Furry Refuge will preserve all relevant data, accounts, and communications in a secure and access-controlled environment, in accordance with applicable law and for as long as required for law enforcement or legal proceedings.

Law enforcement cooperation: We will cooperate fully with any lawful request from law enforcement, including the production of preserved data, account information, or other evidence in connection with investigations into child sexual abuse or exploitation. We will not disclose the existence of law enforcement requests to suspects or third parties except as required by law.

International reporting: For incidents involving users outside the United States, we will, where legally permitted, report to relevant national authorities and designated child protection organizations in the applicable jurisdiction, and will cooperate with international investigations.

7. Consequences for Violations

Any violation of this Child Safety Policy will result in immediate, permanent account termination without warning. There are no exceptions, appeals, or mitigations for violations of this policy.

In addition to account termination, Furry Refuge will:

● Preserve and report all relevant evidence to NCMEC and applicable law enforcement without delay.
● Ban the associated IP addresses, device identifiers, and any linked accounts from the Platform.
● Cooperate fully with any resulting criminal investigation or prosecution.
● Take any additional steps — including civil legal action — that may be appropriate to protect minors and the community.

Attempts to circumvent enforcement, including creating new accounts after a ban, will be treated as additional violations and reported accordingly.

8. How to Report a Concern

If you encounter any content or behavior on the Platform that you believe constitutes CSAM, grooming, or any other form of child sexual abuse or exploitation, please report it immediately using one of the following channels:

● In-platform reporting: Use the Report button available on all content and user profiles. Select "Child Safety" or "CSAM" as the report category.
● Email: Send a report to support@furryrefuge.com. Please include as much detail as possible, including links to the content or user, and any relevant screenshots.
● Emergency situations: If you believe a child is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services (such as 911 in the US) immediately before submitting a platform report.

You may also report CSAM directly to external authorities:

● NCMEC CyberTipline (US): report.cybertip.org/reporting or 1-800-843-5678
● Internet Watch Foundation (IWF, UK/international): www.iwf.org.uk/report
● FBI (US): tips.fbi.gov

All reports made in good faith will be treated confidentially. We do not penalize users for making good-faith reports, even if a report does not result in a finding of a violation.

9. Staff and Moderator Obligations

All Furry Refuge staff and moderators are subject to enhanced obligations under this policy:

● Staff and moderators must complete child safety training prior to undertaking any duties that may involve exposure to user content or reports.
● Any staff or moderator who encounters suspected CSAM must immediately escalate to a designated Safety Lead and must not share, reproduce, or retain such content outside of the secure reporting workflow.
● Staff and moderators are subject to mandatory background screening and must agree to this Child Safety Policy as a condition of their role.
● Furry Refuge will provide appropriate psychological support resources to staff and moderators who are exposed to CSAM or CSAE-related content in the course of their duties.

10. Transparency and Accountability

Furry Refuge is committed to transparency regarding our child safety efforts. We will:

● Maintain a designated Child Safety point of contact reachable at support@furryrefuge.com.
● Review and update this policy at least annually, or whenever significant changes in law, technology, or best practices require us to do so.
● Conduct periodic internal audits of our child safety practices and detection capabilities.

11. No Safe Harbor for Fictional Content

Furry Refuge explicitly rejects the use of fictional, artistic, fantasy, or roleplay framing as a justification or defense for the creation, possession, or distribution of content that sexualizes minors or minor-coded characters.

The fact that content is illustrated, animated, AI-generated, or otherwise not photographic does not exempt it from this policy. Content that depicts minors or minor-coded characters in sexual contexts is prohibited regardless of its medium, style, or claimed artistic intent.

Similarly, characters who are stated to be adults but are drawn or described in a manner that causes them to be reasonably perceived as minors will be treated as minor-coded for the purposes of this policy.

12. Contact

For questions about this Child Safety Policy, to make a report, or to contact our designated child safety team, please reach out to:

Furry Refuge, Inc. — Safety Team
Email: support@furryrefuge.com

To report CSAM to the relevant national authority in the United States, visit the NCMEC CyberTipline.