Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have launched an initiative aimed at tackling child safety online, called The Parents’ Network.
As part of the campaign, a group of parents have come together, to help offer a ‘safe and supportive community [which] is available to all parents and caregivers navigating the complex digital world’.
This group includes those who ‘have first-hand knowledge of the pain and destruction caused by social media use’.
A description of the network on the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation website says: ‘Each of us have been through something no parent should ever have to experience, and our mission is to prevent anyone else from suffering the way we have.
‘For anyone who has a child affected by social media harms, we are here to support you. Our safe and supportive community is available to all parents and caregivers navigating the complex digital world.’
Harry and Meghan were shown embracing parents from The Parents’ Network as they met in person for its launch
Members of The Parents’ Network are pictured meeting in person for the launch of the new initiative
The campaign, which carries the slogan #NoChildLostToSocialMedia, includes a video which has been posted on the Foundation’s website and features parents who have lost their children to suicide because of online harm among others whose children have been badly harmed.
As well as those who have lost children, The Parents’ Network aims to support those whose children are struggling with ‘present-day issues of cyberbullying, depression and anxiety, sexual exploitation, eating disorders, and a range of other traumas related to social media use’.
According to the network: ‘Some are seeking ways to channel pain into purpose. Some are simply trying to survive – while ensuring our kids do the same.
‘All of us are seeking safe, supportive environments where we can talk openly about experiences often kept under lock and key, and forge meaningful relationships with others who understand.’
In addition, a list of three guides has been posted on the site, each tackling a social media platform, including Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
The guides are described by the site as being ‘repurposed in partnership with The Social Media Victims Law Center’.
Compiled using information from the Center’s online social media guides, they include information about what each platform is used for, and how caregivers can ‘improve their child’s safety’ while they are using them.
Alongside the campaign launch, the couple gave their first formal broadcast interview together in three years today, appearing on American broadcaster CBS News’ Sunday Morning programme.
Anchor Jane Pauley described the new project as a ‘modest beginning’, to which Meghan said they ‘had to start somewhere’. (Pictured: Prince Harry embraces a member of The Parents’ Network)
During the sit down with anchor Jane Pauley, the couple said they want to ‘be a part of change for good’ when it comes to the ‘online space’.
‘Our kids are young – they’re three and five,’ said Meghan, who wore a £12,800 Cartier necklace and £1485 Ralph Lauren coords for the appearance.
‘They’re amazing. But all you want to do as parents is protect them. And so, as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there, and we’re just happy to be able to be a part of change for good.’
Harry added: ‘At this point, we’ve got to the stage where almost every parent needs to be a first responder.
‘And even the best first responders in the world wouldn’t be able to tell the signs of possible suicide. Like, that is the terrifying piece of this.’
Meghan, who turns 43 today, also discussed having suicidal thoughts. The Duchess first said she had experienced suicidal thoughts during her time as working royal while the couple were being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey three years ago.
During the interview released today, she said she hopes her candour will help others and will encourage people to check in on their friends.
‘There is a through line, when you’ve been through any level of pain or trauma,’ Meghan said.
‘Part of your healing journey, certainly part of mine is to be open about it.
‘I haven’t really scraped the surface on my experience. I would never want someone else to feel that way. I would never want someone else to be making these plan. I would never want someone else not to be believed.’
She added: ‘So if me voicing what I have overcome, will save someone, or encourage someone in their life to really genuinely check in on them, not assume the appearance is good, not assume everything is okay, then I’ll take that.’
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan discussed child safety online during an interview on CBS News Sunday Morning (pictured)
The Duchess of Sussex told Oprah in 2021 she ‘couldn’t be left alone’ and told her husband she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore’ before claiming the Buckingham Palace HR department ignored her plea for help because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’.
Describing how she considered ending her life believing it ‘was better for everyone’, Meghan said: ‘I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. I remember how he just cradled me. I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that ‘I’ve never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere’. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution’.
She said that after confiding in her husband, she was forced to go to the Royal Albert Hall for a charity event in January 2019, claiming photos from that night ‘haunt me’.
She told Oprah she later reached out to one of the best friends of Diana, Princess of Wales, because she felt unsupported by the palace.
She said: ‘When I joined that family, that was the last time I saw my passport, my driving licence, my keys – all of that gets turned over’. Meghan said Harry had ‘saved my life’ by agreeing to move to Los Angeles.
In the interview, Harry and Meghan also met with a group of parents who lost their children to suicide. Harry also spoke of the ‘scariest thing’ about social media being ‘absolutely anyone’ can lose a loved one.
The interview shared today by American broadcaster CBS featured a clip of Meghan hugging bereaved parents (pictured)
‘We always talk about in the olden days, if kids are under your roof, you know what they are up to. At least they’re safe.
‘But now, they could in the next room, in a tablet or phone, going down these rabbit holes, and within 24 hours they could be taking their life’.
Responding to host Jane Pauley describing the network as a ‘modest beginning’, adding that ‘it isn’t an army of parents’, Meghan said: ‘You have to start somewhere. Anyone watching this or anyone able to make change needs to look through the lens of “what if this was my son or daughter?”.
‘Your son or daughter who comes home who are joyful, who I love, and one day, right under my roof, our entire lives change because of something that’s completely out of my control. And if you look at is as a parent, there is no way to see it any other way than to try and find a solution’.
For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit www.samaritans.org for details; In the US call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).
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