Campaign set up by Cheltenham mum after death of son given boost
Jools' Law wants parents to be given access to their children's social media accounts
A campaign set up by a Cheltenham mum after her son died has been given a boost by her local MP.
Jools' Law was set up by Ellen Roome after her son took his own life at the age of just 14.
Ellen's leading calls for parents to be given the right to access their children's social media accounts, as she fears he had viewed harmful content online.
A motion has been put forward by Cheltenham MP Max Wilkinson this week for the issue to be debated in parliament.
Ellen's been telling us why she set up the campaign:
"I approached social media companies to see if there was a record online of any online bullying, any messaging, anything that would give us an idea as to why Jools ended his life.
"I found out that as a parent we don't have the right see our children's social media, which really shocked me," she says.
She says there are other parents in the same boat as her:
"I have met with a whole load of other bereaved parents who also don't know their children have died. There's a new data bill that's potentially coming out that will give the Coroner the right to see social media profiles.
"But it won't help in any of the cases like mine, or other parents that I know of, that don't have any answers," she says.
Ellen says it's not just parents backing the campaign's calls.
"There's a massive backing from people that don't have children who say 'well this is daft. Why can't we?'," she says.
And Max Wilkinson isn't the only MP to be advocating for Jools' Law.
"I've got a link on all my social media channels where I'm asking people to write to their MP. So far this morning we had five MPs," says Ellen.
"I'm hoping that number might rise, because the more demand from people who want it discussed, the better chance it will get heard sooner rather than later."