ChildLine over 25 years

ChildLine began on the 30 October 1986, launched by Esther Rantzen in response to a plea from children who needed help.

In its first year ChildLine spoke to 23,000 children who desperately needed a voice.

Services opened across the country over the following years, expanding as the need became increasingly apparent.

Since 1986 the service has counselled over 2.6 million vulnerable children. That includes:

• 405,700 children about bullying
• 270,500 children about physical abuse
• 218,800 children about sexual abuse.

Launching ChildLine Online

As childhoods have changed, ChildLine has worked hard to change with them. In October 2009 we launched the ChildLine website, offering help and advice to children online for the first time. In 2010/2011 this website was visited by 951,000 people looking for help and advice.

With your support ChildLine will continue to change and adapt so it can provide the best possible services for vulnerable children.

Our vision for the future

In 2011/2012 alone we hope to answer 650,000 contacts from children online and by phone. We also expect to have over one million visits to the ChildLine website.

We will be working harder to protect and provide services for looked after children, who for a number of reasons we have identified as being particularly vulnerable.

We still need your help

ChildLine has now been in children's lives for 25 years, providing help, support and hope to millions. We want to continue evolving to meet the changing needs of children over the coming 25 years.

To help the NSPCC and ChildLine make a difference to children's lives,  make a donation today. You can also find out more about our ChildLine 25 fundraising events.

It costs more than £17 million each year to help the most isolated children, online or on the phone through ChildLine.

We can't do it without the support of all our supporters, donors and fundraisers, so we'd like to thank everyone who has played a part.