NSPCC - Healthy Life Essex

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) – Cruelty to children must stop FULL STOP

About the NSPCC

(The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children)

The NSPCC is the UK’s leading charity specialising in child protection and the prevention of cruelty to children. The NSPCC’s purpose is to end cruelty to children. FULL STOP. Its vision is of a society where all children are loved, valued and able to fulfil their potential. The NSPCC runs 180 projects and services throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland helping over 10,000 children and their families every year.

Our activity is both supported and made possible by our fundraising programmes and by the contributions of all our partners. 85 per cent of the work that we do is made possible by voluntary donations.

Services also include the NSPCC Helpline – a confidential and free service open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Helpline is for anyone to call who is concerned about a child. In addition to English, callers can speak to Helpline advisers in Welsh as well as a number of South Asian languages – Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali.

Last year 3005 adults in Essex called the NSPCC’s helpline. Across the UK 95,000 adults called the helpline.

About ChildLine

ChildLine, a service provided by the NSPCC, is the UK’s free, 24-hour helpline for children and young people who need to talk. It is staffed by trained volunteer counsellors who provide confidential comfort, advice and support for children and young people who often have nowhere else to turn.

Since it launched in 1986, ChildLine has counselled more than 2 million children and young people. It has saved children’s lives, found refuges for children in danger on the streets, and given hope to thousands of children and young people who believed no one else cared for them. They contact us for all sorts of reasons, from exam pressures and family issues to bullying and serious cruelty – but the need for the service means that we are only able to answer half of the calls we receive.

ChildLine also provides an outreach service, ChildLine in Partnerships (CHIPS), which works with children and young people in schools, youth clubs, prisons and pupil referral units. It works with children themselves to create peer support schemes, to enable them to support each other, runs workshops on subjects like friendship and respect, and provides training for teachers and other adults on the issues that children face. CHIPS now works with 81,000 children and young people and 15,000 adults each year.

The NSPCC in Essex

Official figures show that as at 31 March 2007 there were 730 children in Essex (including Southend and Thurrock) on the child protection register because they were considered to be at risk of abuse. The figure above is shocking, however it is a sad reality that for every child who turns to someone for help there are many others who keep their secret to themselves.

The NSPCC provides a number of locally based services in Essex including, the Essex Young Witness Project. This service provides support and preparation for young people in Essex who are required to attend the criminal courts as a victim and witness to a crime. The service is provided because it is recognised that giving evidence can often be a distressing and traumatic experience for young people. The effects can be reduced by a preparation service which informs a young person about what is likely to happen and gives an understanding of the process that trials follow. Enabling young people to find ways of coping with the emotional effects on themselves also helps them when they give their evidence.

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
Registered charity numbers 216401 and SC037717
Further information can be found by visiting: www.nspcc.org.uk