HUNDREDS more children than ever are desperately calling the charity ChildLine and the number reporting sexual abuse is also at a record high.
ChildLine is appealing for more people from Reading to volunteer at its South East call centre in London to help cope with the demand. In 2004-5, a total of 2,091 children called the centre to say they were being sexually abused but last year that had increased by 25% to 2,621 &ndash with 48 of those children aged seven or under. Assistant director Joelle Leader describes the calls as “harrowing” and said: “Children phone to talk in confidence about suffering different kinds of sexual abuse, the vast majority of the abusers being people they know, either within their families, or the wider family circle. Ms Leader said the increase in calls could be a result of information campaigns and storylines in TV programmes such as EastEnders. Last year, 453 children from Reading rang ChildLine about abuse, bullying, exams, pregnancy, family breakdown and other issues &ndash but that figure only includes calls from landlines and payphones, which on average make up just 20% of calls. ChildLine founder and president Esther Rantzen said the charity can currently only answer two thirds of its calls and said: “Our nightmare is the child who plucks up the courage to ring, fails to get through, and never dares try again.”
Describing the calls as “heart-wrenching”, she added: “I know the hope we provide these children literally saves precious young lives.”