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Child Protection Helpline and ChildLine

Journalist briefing, May 2006

The NSPCC Child Protection Helplines provide advice, information and help to anyone who thinks that a child is experiencing abuse or may be at risk of abuse. The ChildLine service offers someone to turn to for children and young people who are distressed or in danger.

ChildLine

ChildLine and the NSPCC joined forces this year to help, support and protect even more children. ChildLine is the UK's free, 24-hour helpline for children in distress or danger. Trained volunteer counsellors comfort, advise and protect children and young people who may feel they have nowhere else to turn.

Over 1,000 volunteers provide a counselling service, supervised by a team of professional supervisors and managers. Every day around 4,500 children call ChildLine about a wide range of problems, but the most common problems are abuse (sexual, physical and emotional), bullying, serious family tensions, worries about friends' welfare and teenage pregnancy. Children who have hearing impairment or difficulty using a regular phone can use the textphone service. For more information about ChildLine visit www.childline.org.uk.

NSPCC National Child Protection Helpline

NSPCC National Child Protection Helpline has advisers who are trained in child protection. It is a free telephone service that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. An email service responds to requests for advice within 24 hours. Helpline staff also respond to letters and faxes. A textphone service for deaf and hearing-impaired callers.

In addition it provides:

Cymru/Wales Child Protection Helpline is a bilingual Welsh and English language Helpline in operation since November 1999.

The Asian Languages Child Protection Helpline, operational since November 2001, provide culturally appropriate information and advice in Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujurati and Urdu.

Helplines have also been set up for professionals seeking advice about children's welfare; for example the English Football Association Child Protection Helpline.

Why children need this service - some facts

The NSPCC is calling on more resources from central government to help fund national helplines to help children and young people. Some statistics include:

  • 16% of children experience serious maltreatment by parents during childhood
  • There are approximately 32,100 children on the child protection registers in the United Kingdom. More children may be at risk as research suggests that abuse and neglect are both under-reported and under-registered
  • The ChildLine helpline service counselled 8,637 children and young people about sexual abuse last year.
  • Sexual abuse remains one of the key concerns that the NSPCC Child Protection Helpline receives calls about. Last year approximately 5,247 calls made to the NSPCC were related to concerns about sexual abuse.

Key Contact Numbers

Childline 0800 1111
Childline textphone 0800 400 222

NSPCC Child Protection Helpline 0808 800 5000 help@nspcc.org.uk

NSPCC Child Protection Helpline
Textphone service 0808 100 1033

NSPCC Asian Child Protection Helpline 0800 096 7719
Open between 11am and 7pm Monday to Friday

NSPCC Cymru/Wales Child Protection Helpline 0808 100 2524
Open Monday to Friday from 10am - 6pm. If you need help or advice outside these hours, please phone anyway as your call will be transferred to our 24-hour Child Protection Helpline in London (English language only).

1 Cawson, 2002, Child Maltreatment in the Family: The Experience of a National Sample of Young People, NSPCC.

2 DfES, 2005, Statistics of Education: Referrals, Assessments and Children and Young People on Child Protection Registers: Year Ending 31 March 2004; Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (N.I.), 2005.