Florida parent advocate has an interesting story. Years ago, Sue Scheff sent her troubled daughter to a residential treatment facility with the intention of helping her. After discovering her daughter’s mistreatment in the facility, Sue got online to spread the word and was promptly sued for libel. She won an unprecedented case with a jury verdict for damages of over $11 million.

Soon after, she founded P.U.R.E.—Parents’ Universal Resource Experts, Inc., an organization that creates parent awareness about the teen help industry. The work she is doing in Florida is very timely because The Government Accounting Office (GAO) has been looking into the problem of unregulated “therapeutic boarding schools” and there is even a bill pending in Congress which addresses this problem. This is a major issue since thousands of parents send their teenagers every year to these places, which are NOT regulated. Parents don’t know this and put their children in the care of people who can be undertrained, understaffed or simply unqualified for the job.

Scheff also just released her book, Wits End: Advice and Resources for Saving Your OUT-OF-CONTROL TEEN (HCI Books, July 2008) based on her own personal experience with her daughter

Scheff has become a leader in promoting Internet safety and has joined forces with a local Senator and Congresswoman to help protect others, most importantly – children. She is a sought-after speaker on topics relating to Internet abuse, defamation, slander, cyberbullying and troubled teens. As a survivor of Internet defamation, she is now a recognized and vocal advocate in the expanding and growing world of cyberspace legislation.

The time is now to shine a spotlight on the everyday occurrences on the Web that can potentially harm our children.

Parent Advocate Sue Scheff offers advice on dealing with difficult
teenagers after making history, winning an $11.3 million settlement

WHO: Parent Advocate Sue Scheff, author of Wits End: Advice and Resources for Saving Your OUT-OF-CONTROL TEEN (HCI Books, July 2008) and the founder of P.U.R.E.—Parents’ Universal Resource Experts, Inc. offers advice on dealing with your out-of-control teenager.

WHAT: The residential treatment program that Sue Scheff enrolled her daughter, Ashlyn, in was not regulated and she was ignorant of what was going on behind closed doors. Not only was her daughter locked in an isolation box for trying to help a girl having a seizure, but Ashlyn also got food poisoning from a sewage leak that got into her food and her mom was not even notified of her rush to the ER.

Scheff later got online to spread the word and was promptly sued for libel. She won a groundbreaking $11.3 million lawsuit that has changed the legal landscape for Internet defamation.

“My purpose is to share my experiences, but most importantly give parents hope. There are effective programs out there that can help with out-of-control teens. Parents can learn from my mistakes. It is imperative parents do their homework on residential therapy programs and Wit’s End can offer an outline to get them started.”

• Techniques and advice on how to competently evaluate the safety and effectiveness of various treatment options
• What the recent bill, Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008, currently before Congress means for residential therapy
• Coping mechanisms for guilt that parents feel when sending their child to residential therapy
• Finding the facility best suited to match your child’s needs

Sue Scheff is a parent advocate and the founder of Parents’ Universal Resource Experts, Inc. She has been featured in numerous publications and broadcasts, including: 20/20, The Rachael Ray Show, ABC News, CBC News: Sunday Morning, CNN Headline News, Fox News, BBC Talk Radio, National Public Radio and The New York Times, discussing topics of Internet defamation as well as her work helping troubled teens and their families through her organization. To learn more about P.U.R.E., visit HelpYourTeens.com.