Ellen Roome

WORK HISTORY

ABOUT ELLEN ROOME

I am a campaigner for parental rights and child protection in the digital age. My journey began after the unimaginable loss of my only child, Jools Sweeney, who died in April 2022 aged just 14. Although Jools ended his own life, the coroner couldn’t formally rule it as suicide, leaving me searching for answers.When I discovered that parents have no legal right to access their child’s social media data, even when the child is a minor, I was shocked. The information that could help explain what happened to Jools and perhaps help protect other children is locked away. While social media may not hold every answer, it may hold vital clues, and every bereaved parent should have the right to know.In March 2024, I decided to sell my company, The Finance Roome Ltd, which I had built and run for 18 years, so I could dedicate myself fully to campaigning for change and searching for answers as to what happened to Jools. I founded Jools’ Law, calling for the automatic preservation of the digital accounts of deceased minors and for bereaved parents to have a legal right to access their child’s online data through the coroner.The campaign quickly gained national and international support and was debated in Parliament on 13 January 2025. Since then, I’ve been working with ministers, peers, and government departments, including DSIT, Ofcom, and the Home Office, as well as with senior police officers, to push for reform in how children’s digital evidence is preserved and investigated.I collaborate closely with other bereaved parents through Bereaved Families for Online Safety (BFfOS), and with campaigners such as Baroness Beeban Kidron and Esther Ghey to drive changes in online safety, smartphone use in schools, and data access laws.Alongside my advocacy work, I appear regularly on national media, including BBC Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, Sky News, and LBC, and I speak at parliamentary and public events to raise awareness of the urgent need to protect children online.Everything I do is driven by love for Jools and a determination to ensure his legacy leads to lasting change, creating a safer digital world for children and a fairer system for the families left behind.