A St. Peters mom is taking action to protect children in Missouri. The mother of six has started an online petition to change laws on bullying.
It comes after she lost a stepdaughter to bullying and worried another daughter may meet the same fate.
"We need change," Amy Doherty said.
It's been almost 12 years since Amy and her husband Pat lost their daughter, Taylor.
"It breaks my heart," she said. "Here's Taylor and I at the Pacific Ocean in San Diego," Pat added as he looked back on memories of her late daughter.
Just shy of her 15th birthday, Taylor took her own life in 2007. Her parents said bullying at Fort Zumwalt East High School was partly to blame for her death.
"She was bullied and bullied to the point where she took her life and we don't want to relive this," Amy told 5 on your side.
However, Amy said she is re-living those dark moments from the past. Just one month ago, Amy posted a video to social media showing verbal attacks against another daughter at the same school.
"Nobody likes you. Why are you being so rude? It's because you're a b****," one teen is heard saying in the video.
The nearly 45-second video shows a group of girls hurling insults and profanities at her 15-year-old daughter.
"It broke my heart and that's what she's been living for a couple of years," Amy said.
After seeing the video of her daughter getting bullied, Amy started an online petition to let lawmakers know she wanted to change the way schools like Fort Zumwalt East handle bullying.
"I've had hundreds of parents message me personally crying out for help," she said.
Her online petition called for stiffer punishments for bullies. Amy claimed that right now schools are required to investigate bullying allegations, but said each district can determine its own punishment.
"It needs to be standardized. We all need to follow the same consequences at a minimum level," she said.
Amy said every child should feel protected at school.
"We need more intervention," she said.
So she's fighting to make sure every kid is safe from harm.
"I'm speaking from the heart for myself, my family and every other parent who has reached out to me," she said. "We are trying and we are going to go strong on this. We want to change. Our kids need to be safe."
Amy is halfway to her goal of 5,000 signatures. In the past, a spokesperson for the Fort Zumwalt School District district has said they take bullying allegations seriously. The District does have a policy against bullying. Click here to view it.
