Valley mom creates website to keep kids safe from predators
PHOENIX -- Kids love the Internet, but unfortunately so do sexual predators. Statistics show that nearly 100,000 of them are now on social websites chatting with minors.
That concerned Mary Kay Hoal, a mother of five whose teenage daughter wanted to join one of the popular social sites her friends were on.
Like any responsible parent, Hoal decided to go online and check it out before letting her daughter join.
"I saw content, a culture and people that absolutely concerned me, horrified me," Hoal said.
She said she found teens posting sexually suggestive pictures, some downright pornographic.
She even found one offering a game where for lunch money people can buy other people.
"Here a man has bought a senior (girl) in high school," Hoal said. "Anywhere else this would be illegal. As parents, we don't open the door to a registered sex offender, why would we let a hundred thousand in."
But Hoal knew if she said 'no' her daughter could find away around her strict rules.
"You know she could just go to someone else's house and set up a profile page," Hoal said.
Frustrated with the Internet world she couldn't shelter her kids from, Hoal decided to do something about it.
She created a social website called "Yoursphere.com" just for kids under 18. She put in place everything kids would want to see and do.
"There's sports, music, and fashion, everything they like," Hoal said. "And if they don't find what they like, we literally allow them to create their own sphere. In our fashion sphere, one of our members loves to make jewelry out of recyclables, so she created her own social community around green jewelry."
Yoursphere also takes measures to make sure only kids have access by first verifying every parent that signs a child up by confirming their address, date of birth, last four digits of their social security number and a driver's license number. Staff then confirm all the information with their credit card.
"So they are leaving their digital fingerprint when they confirm their child's membership," Hoal said. "Number two, we verify the person providing consent is not a registered sex offender."
According to the website's publicist, the site is constantly monitored by an extremely aggressive law enforcement task force that includes their Chief Security Advisor, a former member of the California State D.O.J. Violent Criminal Information Network, whose primary job was to track sex offenders and hone applications such as the department's Megan's Law website.
There is an annual fee to join the website because Yoursphere doesn't allow advertising for fear it may not always be appropriate.
While kids love the site, Haol said parents get the most enjoyment.
"They get peace of mind and it's one less thing to worry about."
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Copyright 2009 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
