The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

Discussing sex with your tweens and teens can help them make better choices. Here's how. Temma Ehrenfeld Newsweek Web Exclusive Updated: 10:28 AM ET Jul 31, 2008 What kids think about sex might surprise you, but what they're doing sexually—and when they're doing it—might surprise you even more. In a study this year of more than a 1,000 tweens (kids between the ages 11 and 14), commissioned by Liz Claiborne Inc. and loveisrespect.org, nearly half said they'd had a boy- or girlfriend, and one in four said that oral sex or going "all the way" is part of a tween romance. The parents' view? Only 7 percent of parents surveyed in this study think their own child has gone any further than "making out." The whole subject of sex is so delicate that some parents put off talking to kids about it, believing their child is still too young, or because they're not sure what to say. They "finally sit down to have the Big Talk," says Dr. Mark Schuste...

Calling In Pros to Refine Your Google Image By Susan Kinzie and Ellen Nakashima Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, July 2, 2007; A01 At the height of the cyber-abuse, Sue Scheff , a consultant to parents of troubled teens, would type her name in a Google search box and brace herself: Up would pop page after page of attack postings. Sue Scheff is destroying lives. She is a con. She takes kickbacks. She is the biggest fraud there ever was. The stream of negative comments began in 2002 after a woman who had sought advice from Scheff turned on her. The postings appeared on PTA Web sites in Florida , where Scheff lives. On bulletin boards and online forums. There were even YouTube videos threatening her. She sued for defamation and won an $11.3 million verdict , but the attacks only got worse. In December, Scheff turned to ReputationDefender , a year-old firm that promised to help her cleanse her virtual reputation. She no longer dreads a Google search on her name. Most of the links on t...

Reputation Defender and MyEdge is a service that is priceless in an age where a few keystrokes can literally destroy years of a reputable buisiness or person. Forbes, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Orlando Sentinel, New York Post and many other major news outlets have featured Reputation Defender and their unique services.

The Capital-Journal Published Tuesday, February 06, 2007 Once dismissed as foolish, Internet addiction is now getting second look from parents worried about teens' time online. Oh, what a tangled Web we weave, when first we practice to... get online. Many Topeka teenagers admit they never feel quite right until they have checked their MySpace, Facebook or e-mail accounts in the morning and when they get home from school and again before bed. None, however, believe they are addicted to the Web. Since the term "Internet addiction" was introduced in the late 1990s, Web users and medical professionals have dismissed the idea. Some think the long hours of isolation characteristic of too much Web use are just a by-product of other mental issues such as depression. But Kimberly Young, director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, said the idea is gaining popularity. Parents are starting to research the addiction as they watch their teens become more attached to the com...

Posted on November 1, 2006 People who may believe they can say whatever they want on the Internet should consider a recent verdict in a Florida courtroom. A jury awarded the head of a children's services referral company $11.3 million in damages in one of the largest-ever awards in an Internet defamation suit, according to The Associated Press. The suit was filed in 2003 by Sue Scheff of Weston, founder of Parent's Universal Resource Experts, after a former client, Carey Bock of Louisiana, posted comments on the Internet calling Scheff a "con artist" and a "fraud." Such language is mild compared to many comments and rants posted on various Internet sites. But, making defaming comments on the Internet is no different than making such comments in other public arenas, the jury found. "Just because you don't like someone or what they do, it does not give you carte blanche to post false statements about a person on the Internet," Scheff told the AP....

Internet Defamation can carry a Big Price Tag Thu, 2006-10-12 13:51 Daya Gamage – US National Correspondent for Asian Tribune Washington, D.C. 12 October (Asiantribune.com): A Florida woman who won a lawsuit against a Louisiana woman, who posted messages on the internet accusing her of being a "crook" and a "fraud" said of the State of Florida’s Broward Circuit Court jury award of $11.3 million "People are using the internet to destroy people they don’t like, and you can’t do that." Susan Scheff and her Weston-based company, Parents Universal Resource Experts Inc., won the jury verdict in Broward Circuit Court in Florida against Carey Bock for posting defamatory statements about her on an internet bulletin board viewed by parents, according to court pleadings. In this case, the Broward Circuit Court jury sends a strong message that freedom of speech has limits, and the case will make people think twice before setting out on a campaign to destroy others....