Grooming is a calculated and manipulative process used primarily by offenders to build trust and emotional connection with a child, young person, or vulnerable adult in order to exploit and abuse them, often sexually. It involves gaining the trust of the victim and sometimes their family or caregivers to establish secrecy and compliance, preventing disclosure of the abuse

. Grooming can occur both in person and online, with perpetrators often presenting themselves as trustworthy, caring, and charming individuals. This process can take weeks, months, or even years and may include giving gifts, special attention, isolating the victim from protective influences, introducing sexual content gradually, and coercing silence through threats or manipulation

. The intent behind grooming is to gain unsupervised access to the victim for abuse, obtain sexual material, maintain the victim's silence, and avoid discovery. Grooming behaviors may not always be explicitly sexual and can resemble normal caring behaviors, making them difficult to identify

. Signs of grooming include secrecy about time spent, unexplained new possessions, changes in behavior such as withdrawal, use of sexual language inappropriate for the child's age, and increased time away from home or online

. In summary, grooming is a preparatory phase of abuse involving emotional manipulation and control designed to facilitate exploitation and prevent disclosure