Thank your child for coming to you and trusting you. Tell them that you will work on this with them to address it the best you can.
If the picture can be unsent, do so. If they have a good relationship with the recipient and that person is a peer, they can ask that person to delete it.
If the picture is Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM):
If the person they sent it to is an adult or older child, you and your child can report this to law enforcement. Law enforcement should not arrest your child, but if you have concerns, we recommend reaching out to us and scheduling one of our advocates to accompany you and your child when you make a report. If they are a peer, you may still take this route as well, especially if they do not respect your child asking them to delete it.
If the person releases the picture onto the internet or threatens to, you and your child can use Take It Down, a service from The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), to help address the leak, on top of making a report to law enforcement.
Your child has made a mistake, but it is important to remember that they are still developing. This mistake is easy to make but can have very steep consequences, and children should be able to safely learn lessons without the kinds of consequences they are now being exposed to.