Teen Members transitioning to Adult Side - A word of caution before muting
Hello Group Moderators & Listeners! I would like to address a worry that has grown a little bit more over the last few days as members approached me for being muted in the support groups for being under-aged but in the adult side. I am not referring to guest that come and confess they are below they age and lied when signing up but of those members that have been active in our community for quite some time and transitioned from the teen side to the adult side at the beginning of the month of their birthday ( @LauraS or @Heather can correct me if this information is inaccurate?). Here you can see what a teen user is asked to submit when making a member account. For privacy and to keep things anonymous they are not asked to submit their birthday, just the month and year.
Because of what I have explained above, a member that is 17 years old (but whose birthday is within that month) might log in to find themselves in the adult side. Thought we are all understand the underage rule and why it stands (and how important it is to follow it), I ask you to be mindful and considerate before muting an underage member. Perhaps it could be helpful to check that member?s profile to see how long they have been a member of our community?
That said, if you are ever encounter this situation of a teen member that transitioned to the adult side it might be helpful to explain in PM what happened and how they ca find listeners that are adults but are also approved to listen to teens. Some things you can say are:
-?XXXX, it seems like your account have moved from the teen side to the adult side, will you be turning 18 in this month?? If they reply yes, and you feel uncomfortable having them in the adult group support rooms it might be helpful to direct them to 1 on 1 with adult teen listener. If they reply no, then you can proceed to mute/ban (depending the situation).
Do we have any listeners that have experienced or talked to members that have experienced this and would like to provide a little insight on the situation? (Without sharing chat details please :) )
What other ways could we approach this situation?
@Iara, thank you for bringing this up.
I've seen this a few times, a member who gets muted because they are 17, even when they say they are turning 18 in a few days. I understand that a moderator might feel uncomfortable having a minor in a chatroom, but in this case it'snot their fault.
We should ask someone who is 17 if they are turning 18 that month. If they are, muting them is useless. It will make them feel like we don't want to support them because their account is already switched over to adult. If they aren't turning 18 that month, it might be better to ask them to PM you and explain them that they can send an email to get their account on the right side.
I have seen this, and every time the moderator is threatening with muting them if they don't leave the chatroom because they are below 18, and they get muted, even after explaining that they turn 18 in a few days and even when other people say that it's normal for them to be on the adult side because they don't have to give your date of birth when signing up.
To all moderators : please keep this in mind when you want to mute someone for not being 18.
@Iara Thank you so much for this post ? a much needed reminder. This came up yesterday and I was discussing it with another Mentor so I?m very happy we now have communication out there about it. Another point to mention is that even if a Teen is on the Adult side because they ticked the wrong box on sign up (so they are 17 and below and there birthday is not for the foreseeable future) please be kind and supportive and suggest that they email support@7cups.com in order to be switched to the Teen side. Also be mindful that this process may take a day or two, it is not instantaneous. Do not mute them for being on the wrong side or threaten to mute them if they don?t leave the chat room, and especially don?t do this in a public space which I have witnessed. Take them to PM?s and in acaring and supportive way explain to them our guidelines and the procedures around having them switched. Thanks all 
