{"id":179046,"date":"2026-03-05T09:51:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/179046\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T09:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:51:27","slug":"new-resource-for-pinellas-parents-to-protect-kids-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/179046\/","title":{"rendered":"New resource for Pinellas parents to protect kids online"},"content":{"rendered":"

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Online games are meant to be fun.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

The Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County<\/a> launched an initiative\u00a0to safeguard children online and\u00a0equip families with vital support called Parent ProTech<\/a>
\n
Through taxpayer dollars, JWB is making it possible for all Pinellas County parents, grandparents and concerned citizens to receive a free annual subscription to Parent ProTech
\n
Parent ProTech is an online platform that has a vast online library which includes expert-backed guides, videos, conversation starters and safety recommendations on topics like parental controls, social media, AI and more
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Katie Blaxberg is a mother of three and says to keep up with the fast-changing online world, this has been a helpful resource for parenting<\/p>\n

They entertain us, they connect us, but sometimes it is who they connect us to that is concerning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Katie Blaxberg is a mother of three. Two of those three are teenage boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have PlayStations, you know, they have their laptops for school,\u201d said Blaxberg. \u201cAnd of course, with teenagers, the ever-present phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

To keep up with the wonders and also the worries that come with the world of online access, she has been using a new free tool available to all Pinellas County residents now.<\/p>\n

It is called Parent ProTech<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery video that I\u2019ve watched and I\u2019ve watched a lot are really easily digestible. They\u2019re short. They\u2019re to the point,\u201d said Blaxberg.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The application shares the latest information on just about every game, social media platform and application that kids use today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parent ProTech is meant to educate, but also help parents safeguard their kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only parents, it\u2019s grandparents, it\u2019s caregivers and anyone who touches the child to ensure that they are protected,\u201d said\u00a0Michael Mikurak, Interim CEO of the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County.<\/p>\n

The JWB is funding this free resource using taxpayer dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mikurak said they worked with law enforcement on finding this resource and it was statistics about predators that motivated the JWB to make this available.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The FBI estimates half a million predators are active online daily. Locally, the Pinellas County Sheriff\u2019s Office conducted more than 100 investigations into child pornography in 2025 with more than 1,000 counts of child pornography being obtained, shared and viewed.<\/p>\n

Parent ProTech has a big goal of helping parents thwart predators by educating and monitoring their children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For parents like Blaxberg, it is also nice for when kids come to them with the latest app and social media site asking questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor your child to come to you and say, \u2018Hey, I want this app,\u2019 and you then as a parent can go to this resource, look it up. If it\u2019s not there, you can message them right away,\u201d said Blaxberg.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To sign up for Parent ProTech, just a name, email and zip code are required at\u00a0Parent ProTech<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The zip code is necessary to ensure the fee is waived for Pinellas County residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Online games are meant to be fun. What You Need To Know The Juvenile…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[767,274,558,3075,115,596,277,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,835],"class_list":["post-179046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-community","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-erin-murray","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-public-safety","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}