A heartbroken father has made a desperate plea to the NSW Government for help after his 14-year-old son died by suicide.
Jason Woodhouse’s son Corey, 14, died in August 2023, leaving the devastated father trying to figure out why he lost his boy.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Heartbroken dad’s desperate battle after 14-year-old son’s suicide.
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Read nowWoodhouse believes answers could lie in his son’s school emails, but he says the Department of Education is refusing to let him access them.
The grieving father told a Community Cabinet session with ministers in Orange how he has been locked in an eight-month battle with the department to access his son’s school-assigned email account.
Woodhouse said his son’s school-assigned email had been used to set up external accounts, and he wanted to know what was being discussed.
“I’ve asked for a copy of all of those emails and access to the education department email, so I can review what my son was talking about in the 2300 emails in his education account that reflect Discord, Snapchat,” he said.
“The emails are not monitored because they talk about bullying, kill, there are words of kill.”
The father said he had spoken with the school principal, contacted the department and completed a Government Information Public Access request, but all of his pleas had fallen on deaf ears.
![Jason Woodhouse’s son Corey, 14, took his own life in August 2023.](jpg/e29ea2dfef00725978c137670440ef2a471b71d4e2c3.jpg?imwidth=650&impolicy=sevennews_v2)
Addressing Education Minister Prue Car, he asked: “What is the education department going to do about monitoring all of our children’s emails to take the ability away to set up external accounts and take the right of a parent to not monitor their child’s online activity?”
Car said she could not imagine what Woodhouse and his family had been through and apologised for the role the department played in adding to that trauma.
The minister promised an investigation and a phone call from the department secretary.
“You have raised a really significant issue, I think that is on the mind of every parent in NSW about the safety of our children online,” she said.
“We need to do better. That particular issue about the monitoring of emails, I need to take that away.
“But the issue of safety online for our kids is something that everyone is concerned about, including me.
“It is dangerous, and we have to do everything possible to make sure we are monitoring what happens online, especially in forums that are owned by us through education emails that they’re accessing through school.”
If you need help in a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For further information about depression contact beyondblue on 1300224636 or talk to your GP, local health professional or someone you trust.
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