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Internet and Emotional Neglect If a parent were to deny their child or teen food, most people would agree that the parent was guilty of neglect. If they were to deliberately take food away, for example as punishment, we might go further and call this abuse. But what do we call it when a depressed, suicidal teenager depends on the Internet for emotional support and the parent takes their Internet away? Sadly, we at EQI know that this actually happens, and more often than most people would ever imagine. This week alone three teens have told us their parents have taken away their Internet all together, stopped them from going online when they need to, or blocked the chat group which they rely on for emotional support. Currently, such abuse of power by parents is still legal in every country we know of. We would like to raise the public's awareness of this and contribute to a campaign to get the laws changed. -- January 31, 2010 - 2006 writing about two UK teens who met Note: Stopping a teenager from communicating with their friends may be legally considered emotional neglect. Vanessa Gardianos writes:
See note 75 on page 11 from ADOLESCENT SUICIDE: A CALL FOR PARENTAL LIABILITY Update - Feb 8, 2010 Here is a letter from one of the paents of a teen we referred to above:
Ironically on the same day we also received a letter from another parent of teenagers thanking us for our work!
Here is part of a chat about the parents who blocked their daughter from the chat support group
Another chat about RHM's parents stopping her from getting emotional support online PV (04:38:53 AM): can u also give pple
____'s email address Some things she said in the chat We will be adding some of the last few things we could save from the chat history before ___ was stopped from talking to her friends. We want to show people what kind of person she is....ie funny, caring, smart. Here is one example of what she said: well i can send lots of hugs (its magic dont try this at home) *hug* SWISH!!! PV (04:38:21 AM): say did u used to talk to
Anna? jake (04:43:15 AM): because she thinks
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What not to do.. Here is a letter I got from a mother when I showed her Doug's email. Doug said his mothe was threatening to take away his Internet completely because he "spends too much time on it." But Doug says his online friends have helped keep him from killing himself for the past three years. From an enlightened mom
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