Social media to rescue

Though Facebook is often frivolous, three siblings spend most of their time on it not gossiping mindlessly but offering support to young victims of abuse.

The Capetonians, aged 16, 18 and 22, have heard a range of complaints - from an 11-year-old stuck in a car with two drunk parents to a 20-year-old whom they say they persuaded not to commit suicide.

But when their father walked out on them and their unemployed mother in November they made public their own allegations of abuse.

"We can't post only other people's stories and leave our own stuff hidden. That would defeat the purpose of exposing the abusers," said the 18-year-old, a matric pupil who posts cartoons she sketches of her father, who is labelled the "monster".

Their father has obtained an interim interdict against what he alleges is defamation by the 18-year-old and his estranged wife.

"The thought behind the Facebook page was very good initially but at the moment they're using it purely to defame me," he said.

But his children say they are determined to continue their work.

"We have a group of friends . they have similar backgrounds to us - abusive fathers, drunkard parents," said the 18-year-old.

"Some of their parents are wealthy and don't spend time with them. Instead [the children] get [credit cards] without limits.

"They don't have a place to talk about things . there was a demand for [what we do on Facebook]."

All their mother was willing to say about her children's activities was: "We believe we will be okay. It doesn't rain forever."

Social media law specialist Emma Sadleir warned that pages such as that created by the three siblings could lead to litigation.

She referred to a case in which comments were posted about a man who was getting divorced and allegedly neglected his children.

"The guy went to court to have [the comments] removed. The judge found that, though they might have been true, they were not in the public interest and amounted to airing dirty laundry."