Esther Rantzen: Vital to keep at-risk children on the line

Published on Tuesday 4 August 2009 10:16

I NEVER cease to be inspired by the skill and compassion shown by our volunteer counsellors in Edinburgh and across the UK. Volunteers on my visits to Scotland tell me that the four-hour shift with ChildLine is the most rewarding period of their week.

I am very privileged because from time to time, young adults who recognise me and remember ChildLine's launch in 1986 talk to me about the difference ChildLine has made to their lives. Over and over again I hear the same phrase, "Without ChildLine, I wouldn't be here today. Please thank the volunteer counsellors".

As one child put it in a letter to me: "That kind, caring, voice on the phone is all it took to transform my life."

We know we literally save lives. One 11-year-old was so badly bullied at school and so frightened of her alcoholic and sometimes violent mother that she ran away with only a few pence in her pocket. She spent the day riding on buses until at 11 at night she found herself alone, in the dark, in the centre of a big city. She rang ChildLine and our counsellor was able to find a place for her in a children's refuge.

From there she was fostered until at the age of 15 she became pregnant. Then her mother got in touch again begging her to come home. Uncertain what to do, she rang ChildLine again and our counsellor suggested she could offer her mother a deal. If her mother agreed to give up drinking, she and her baby could return home safely. Her mother accepted the deal. The child is a young woman now, married with two babies and her relationship with her mother is warm, loving and close. She said to me, "Sometimes I wonder how many lives ChildLine has saved – me, my babies, my mother and how many more?" She told me she never spoke to the same ChildLine counsellor twice, a testament to the consistency of the service our volunteers provide.

Life and death challenges face our counsellors more often than we realise.

When I heard another counsellor patiently persuading a child to come down from a parapet, telling her that she was precious, and that her life was not hopeless, I wondered how children survived without this lifeline. But then ChildLine itself would not exist without the generosity of the public, who pay for these children's calls and our volunteers – ordinary people from all walks of life, given careful training and supervision, to provide an extraordinary service.

Last year, 33,500 children and young people received counselling from volunteer ChildLine counsellors in Scotland. The children spoke about all kinds of worries, from bullying and problems at school or with friends, to serious physical and sexual abuse. Many of them won't have told anybody else what is troubling them. But although all these children were able to get through to the advice and support they desperately needed, we know many more tried to call and didn't get through, simply because of our lack of resources. We can't afford to open enough lines and we haven't sufficient counsellors to answer them all. At the moment, we can only help two out of every three children who try to get through. Our nightmare is the child in danger who plucks up the courage to ring, fails to get through and never dares try again.

That's why we urgently need more counsellors from Edinburgh and the Lothians to work with us in our Thistle Street base when children need us most.

That's also why we need more funds. It can be incredibly difficult to tell someone your problems and we know that some children would prefer to contact us using the technologies they feel most comfortable with – online and text. So with the help of a three-year appeal, we plan to recruit and train 49 more counselling volunteers in Edinburgh and raise an additional 8.6 million in Scotland, so that we can introduce a new ChildLine online service.

That way, whenever children want to reach us, they can choose whichever way suits them best. We know that until this happens, some children will continue to suffer in silence.

If any readers would like to help us, we have so many different volunteering opportunities and fundraising events available that whatever your background or interests, we can use you. As long as you genuinely care about children I believe you will discover that supporting us is a rewarding and challenging way of helping the most vulnerable young people. I can promise you that your support will be the most valuable and productive donation you could ever make to the nation's children.

&#149 By supporting, the Child's Voice Appeal, you can help protect children and young people in Scotland from cruelty and abuse. Visit www.nspcc.org.uk/scotland or call 0844-892 0212 to make a donation, or to talk to us about raising funds.

&#149 If you are a child or young person who needs to talk about any issue, you can call ChildLine day or night on 0800-11 11.