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Bereaved Mother Awarded MBE Uses Honour to Press ‘Jools’ Law on Children’s Social Media Data

Her campaign calls for parental access to deceased children’s online data without court orders.

Overview

  • Ellen Roome, 49, from Cheltenham, received an MBE in the New Year Honours for services to children’s online safety.
  • She is pushing for Jools’ Law, which would require social media firms to give bereaved parents access to a deceased child’s data without a court order.
  • Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she said peers are expected to consider in January an amendment to the crime and policing bill to preserve a child’s online data after death.
  • She argues for routine digital checks in post-mortems and inquests, comparable to toxicology reports for drugs and alcohol.
  • Roome sold the financial services business she ran for 18 years after her 14-year-old son Jools died in 2022, calling platforms “not safe” and describing the honour as bittersweet.