ChildLine

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ChildLine is the name of several children's charities. Of these the first, on which the others are modelled, is a UK-based children's [[helpline], free to the child, and open every day], there are 150 others around the world including Childline Ireland, an Irish-based support phone and text service, and an India-based helpline supported by the non-profit organisation Childline India Foundation. Although all the telephone helplines created specifically for children vary in structure, in the UK and Ireland their primary role is to provide a 24-hour telephone counselling service. Both Irish and UK charities work with schools on anti-bullying initiatives and peer support networks, as well as lobbying government.[1]

1 History of Childline UK
2 UK Operations
3 Childline Ireland
4 International
5 See also
6 External links
7 Notes

[edit] History of Childline UK

In 1986 Esther Rantzen, presenter of That's Life!, a popular consumer TV show, suggested to the BBC that they create "Childwatch", a programme about child abuse, the aim being to try to detect children at risk before their lives were in danger, (the body of one toddler having been discovered after she starved to death in her own home). Michael Grade, then Controller of BBC1, agreed to commission the programme, and the team decided to base the programme upon a survey of That's Life! viewers who had themselves suffered cruelty as children. When viewers were asked if they would take part in the survey in an edition of That's Life!, a helpline was opened after the programme so that any child currently suffering abuse could call for help. During the 48 hours the line was open, it was almost swamped by callers, most of them children suffering sexual abuse who had never been able to tell anyone else. Rantzen therefore suggested to the production team of Childwatch that they could create a helpline specifically for children in danger or distress, to be open throughout the year, 24/7, and launch it on the programme.

When the results of the survey came in, the thousands of viewers who took part reported that their lives had been very damaged by the abuse they had suffered, that very few had received any help, and that any intervention they did receive had either done no good, or made things worse for them. Because they felt too ashamed or fearful to ask for help, and because the abuse had happened in their own homes and they felt imprisoned by the taboo surrounding such abuse, it had continued for many years. One woman reported, "As a child I was never frightened of going home alone in the dark, of being raped or mugged, because I knew what was waiting for me at home was far worse."

Together with producer Sarah Caplin, Rantzen went on to screen Childwatch and the helpline was launched on the programme on BBC1 in October 1986. It was immediately overwhelmed by young callers wanting to disclose their experiences of abuse, fifty thousand attempted calls being made on that first night, and for many subsequent weeks. It was evident that abuse was much more prevalent than previously suspected and, contrary to popular belief, it was more often committed by an adult known to the child. Young people who spoke out about being abused risked disbelief; many felt too confused, frightened or ashamed to complain and feared that if they asked for help the whole family would suffer. Only the presence of a confidential helpline allowed them to seek help.

Rantzen became chairman of the charity and Caplin vice chairman, and they recruited an influential management board. The first donations came from the Department of Health and the Variety Club, and one of the first Trustees, the philanthropist Ian Skipper OBE who had already worked with Rantzen to create the Ben Hardwick fund, agreed to underwrite the running of the charity for the first year. BT donated the first premises, and gave them a simple and memorable freephone number (0800 1111). From the start ChildLine relied on volunteer counsellors, and still does, having now evolved a specific training for them, (they currently have around 1600 volunteers regularly donating their time and skill). The charity also relied, and relies, on the generosity of the public to pay for the calls, which are free to the child.

The revolutionary aspect of the helpline, which has now been copied in 150 countries around the world, is that children decide when and if to make the call, when and if to take any advice given, and when and if to put the phone down. ChildLine therefore works in partnership with the child, to ensure children understand all the options open to them to make them safe. Only if the child's life is in imminent danger is confidentiality breached. Were they not to offer children confidentiality, children would not dare to ask for help, or would retract their disclosure, which would, of course, put them in even greater danger, if an abuser became aware that they had disclosed once. Many children's first question when they ring is, "If I tell you, what will happen?" The answer counsellors give is, "Nothing, unless you want it to, as long as your life is not in danger." All the same, the aim is, of course, to stop any abuse and ensure the child is made safe. Some ChildLine bases have boards covered with thank-you messages from children, typically, "I did what you said, and it worked. Thank you. I'm not frightened any more", and "Thank you, I've told my Nan like you suggested, and she says I can live with her."

During the first nineteen years, ChildLine expanded to try to meet the huge demand from children and young people, (as many as five thousand children ringing every day). Currently it has 13 bases around the country, including two in Northern Ireland, two in Wales, and two in Scotland. Since it was launched, hundreds of thousands of children have been comforted and protected, lives saved, and paedophiles and other child abusers brought to justice. One mother wrote, "I wanted to thank you for the life of my son. He was suicidal, but nobody could understand why. Then he improved, only now do I realize that was when he started to speak to ChildLine." The child himself estimates he made fifty calls to ChildLine until he mustered the courage to disclose to his mother that a neighbour had sexually abused him and his brother. Following that disclosure the police discovered the man had also abused other children in the town, he was convicted for thirty different assaults, and was sentenced to three years in jail. Recently another child who was being groomed by a paedophile on the internet told ChildLine, and instead of meeting her off the train, the man was met by the police instead. Even more recently, a child ringing on a mobile was persuaded to climb back to safety from the parapet of a footbridge over a motorway, having been determined to jump. Eight suicidal children a day ring ChildLine. Mobile phones have made it far easier for children to ask for help, one ten year old boy rang in a whisper from his bedroom to say, "I've had enough. I'm sick of being locked up in the shed when I get home from school". The most common problems are bullying, (37,000 calls in one year alone), serious family tensions, and abuse. Others include violence and addiction at home, pregnancy, runaways, bereavement, and loneliness. ChildLine also runs "CHiPS", (ChildLine in Partherships), a team working to train school children as peer mentors.

Though the service was flourishing, as a new charity ChildLine's finances were fragile, at one time dipping as low as two weeks-worth of running costs in their reserves. In 2005, the year of the Tsunami, ChildLine's donations dropped to half the amount needed to break even. Rather than have to cut back their service to children, they therefore approached the NSPCC, who agreed to a merger, and since February 1st 2006 it has been part of the NSPCC family of services for children. In Scotland ChildLine's service is provided by Children 1st. (Rantzen is now a Trustee of the NSPCC, and President of ChildLine, and continues to work as a volunteer counsellor). The merger has enabled the charity to open new bases, and the NSPCC intend to create an augmented helpline service to include texting and on-line counselling, to be called ChildLine and ChildLine Online.

Amicus is the recognised trade union for ChildLine staff and volunteers.

[edit] UK Operations

ChildLine has 13^[1] counselling centres around the UK, staffed largely by volunteers. The bases are located in Glasgow and Aberdeen, (where the service is provided by the Scottish children's charity Children lst), Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Rhyl, Swansea, Birmingham, Nottingham, London, Exeter, Belfast and Foyle. As many as 4,500 children have phoned ChildLine every day, though only 2,500 of these callers can be answered. Since the merger with the NSPCC the service has expanded, and depends on public generosity to pay for the children's phone calls. However, in July 2007 the NSPCC was awarded a £30 million government grant to expand all its helplines. This was to enable an ambitious project to extend the telephone service to text and web-based services, thus to make the service accessible to all children and young people in distress and danger, and to create sufficient capacity by 2010 to answer all calls and messages.

Unlike most other freephone helplines, Childline offers confidentiality to children unless their lives are in immediate danger. This is seen as one of the greatest strengths of the service, as it allows children to discuss their problems "safely" in the knowledge that no intervention will take place without their consent. The tragedy of child abuse is that the majority of children suffer in silence because they have been told that if they seek help they will not be believed, or they are threatened into silence, or they fear that intervention will inevitably shatter such happiness as they have, for example, break up the family. Children who ring ChildLine to disclose abuse are often encouraged to seek help from "trusted adults", the aim being to protect the child from harm causing as little ancilliary damage as possible. ChildLine's counsellors are trained to use role play and empathy to build children's confidence. ChildLine offers its own training programme for volunteers who come from widely varied backgrounds, but must be over 16. Many counsellors have worked for years for the charity. One consultant paediatrician said "Having spent my entire career working with children, I consider the most effective work has been with the children who have rung ChildLine.

Calls to ChildLine do not appear on phone bills. Despite most mobile phone operators charging for freephone 0800 calls, calls to ChildLine's number are not charged by any UK mobile network. Calls are free, can be made at any time, day or night and children can ring about any problem, if a problem is important to children and young people, it is important to ChildLine.

[edit] Childline Ireland

Childline Ireland is run by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and is available to all children and young people in Ireland up to 18 years of age.

Lines are open 365 days a year. Childline Ireland offers support to young people through the Childline listening service over the phone and through the website Childline Online. There is also a text service open for all deaf children in the Republic of Ireland.

Any person under the age of 18 can call Childline for a chat or to talk about any problems they might have. Calls to Childline are confidential, there is no caller ID and calls are not traced. It doesn't cost anything to call or text Childline. Calls are answered by staff and volunteers who have been trained to listen to children and young people.

Calls to Childline are confidential. However if a young person is not safe, and chooses to tell Childline where they are, then their details would be passed on to someone who can help, like the Gardaí or social workers. It’s always up to the caller whether or not to tell Childline where they are.

[edit] International

Similar children's helplines using the name ChildLine have been formed in a number of countries. As of 2005 these included India's Childline India Foundation, Ireland, Namibia, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Gibraltar and Zimbabwe. Some of these are independent charities; others have been set up by existing children's charities or more general helplines.