NSPCC launches new £50m helplines appeal

The NSPCC is launching a major new appeal for funds to develop its vital helpline services in Rochdale today (Monday 22 September) and across the rest of the UK in what is the most prominent appeal since the charity launched the Full Stop Campaign in 1999.

The Child’s Voice Appeal aims to raise £50 million UK-wide over the next three years. Of this, it is hoped that £5.8million will be raised in Greater Manchester to continue to run and grow the services provided by the NSPCC Helpline at Salford Quays and the ChildLine base in Manchester city centre.

Nationally the funding will allow the NSPCC to:

Grow the NSPCC Helpline by over 60% to counsel 18,000 more adults who have concerns about a child

Counsel 500,000 more callers to ChildLine every year

Offer young people options for how they access help – by phone, online or by text

The new appeal is being launched as the children’s charity reveals that neighbours and every day people are acting to save thousands of children living in appalling and dangerous conditions.

Last year concerned members of the public contacted the NSPCC Helpline, on average, every five minutes with nearly 10,000 calls being so serious they needed urgent attention. One in three of these came from people living nearby the abused child and their action helped at least 7000 children.

A spokesman for the NSPCC said: "The need for a service to provide support to adults in the locality is clear. Last year almost 4500 adults in Greater Manchester called the NSPCC's Helpline. Across the UK 95,000 adults called the helpline.

"However, the full scale of child abuse in communities is even higher. At least one in six calls from neighbours and others cannot be answered by over-stretched Helpline counsellors, leaving many children at risk of serious harm.

"In order to ensure all these cries for help are being heard the Child’s Voice Appeal (childsvoiceappeal.org.uk) will help the NSPCC expand its helpline services to have greater capacity to support and advise more adults as well as children who call ChildLine.

The planned expansion will enable the NSPCC to employ more counsellors with the aim of speaking to everyone who rings and encouraging more people to take action sooner if they have concerns about a child."

Recent calls to the NSPCC Helpline included one about a nine-year-old boy who had the barrel of a gun placed in his mouth. In another a neighbour described a young girl being threatened with an axe by her father and a third involved a homeless twelve-year old who was terrified of going to sleep in case he woke up to find his alcoholic mum dead.

In other calls neighbours have described seeing a young mother dangling her two-year old child by the wrist from a second floor window, parents constantly screaming and swearing at their youngsters and many living in households where drugs are openly used. One shocked woman told how she went into a house where the floors were covered with rubbish and dog mess and the milk in a baby’s bottle had turned green because it was so old.

Alison Houghton, assistant director of the NSPCC Helpline in Salford, said: “Every day we deal with tragic stories of children who are living in the most heart-rending and often dangerous conditions. Many of them are so young they are helpless so their only hope is for someone to see how dreadful their lives are and take action to help save them. When they do that we have to be sure we can take their calls.

“Not all children brought to our attention are at serious risk of harm, but many are in very distressing situations. We were asked to help one five-year-old girl who was so hungry she started eating toilet paper to block out the hunger pangs.”

One caller who saw three young children being violently beaten by their parents told a Helpline counsellor: “Please help them. I just want them to have a better future.”

Alison Houghton added: “It is outrageous that our country’s children continue to suffer such cruelty in 2008. Thankfully, there are many responsible neighbours who are looking out for these children. But we want more to join them and to call as soon as they suspect something is wrong. You might think it’s a difficult thing to make a call like that but in the vast majority of cases the people who rang because they believed the matter was urgent were right.

“It only takes a few seconds to dial the 0808 800 5000 number and that could save a child’s life. Now we have to raise the money to make sure we play our part.”

Martin Ashton, divisional fundraising manager for the North West said: “Our Full Stop Campaign has spurred millions of people to act in recent years. The Child’s Voice Appeal is a major step forward against child cruelty and will allow us to help many more children. Every £10 donated helps us answer another call which could save a child’s life.

"The UK government is committed to helping us develop our helplines. We are confident the public will now play its part in supporting the appeal – working together towards our ultimate aim of ending child cruelty.”

The government is providing £30million towards the development of the NSPCC helplines. The additional £50million raised by the public through the Child’s Voice Appeal is vital to continue running the existing services and get the development off the ground to ensure that the NSPCC helplines are able to support even more children and adults in the future.