Dear Editor,
re: thanks to County Down supporters for 2013.
I would like to say a personal thank you to all of your readers in County Down who have helped support the NSPCC in Northern Ireland throughout 2013. Another year that has seen many high profile child abuse cases and shocking stories of cruelty so severe they’ve resulted in the deaths of innocent children – often at the hands of those who were supposed to protect them.
No-one can forget the faces of little Daniel Pelka, Hamzah Khan and Keanu Williams following their tragic deaths. This is a clear indication that whilst the shocking scale and effect of child abuse have moved centre stage in the public consciousness, still more needs to be done to prevent it from happening in the first place, which is why the NSPCC needs your readers’ continued support.
But a huge amount was achieved over the year thanks to your generous readers. Child protection workers at the NSPCC’s helpline protect more children than ever before by providing information from members of the public concerned about a child to the police or social services or giving advice and support.
From 1 April 2013 – 31 March 2013 498 new referrals were accepted into NSPCC service centres in Belfast, Craigavon and Foyle. The NSPCC helpline also made 424 referrals to statutory authorities in Northern Ireland and dealt with 326 advice calls from this region involving an estimated 652 children. Meanwhile our ChildLine bases in Belfast and Foyle made 49 referrals about children and young people in Northern Ireland – of these 86 per cent were made to the PSNI.
My message to all of your readers would be that the NSPCC’s helpline is there 24/7 if you have concerns about a child – we all have a responsibility to help keep children safe, so please don’t wait until it’s too late – give us a call on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk
In County Down we have our innovative ChildLine Schools Service, which aims to visit every primary school in Northern Ireland to teach children about different forms of abuse and ways to stay safe. We’ve made significant strides to help children in County Down and beyond this year, and this is all thanks to people like you and your readers. Without your support, our work stops. On behalf of all the children and young people that we are able to help, thank you. Please support us again in 2014 if you can.
To make a donation text NIChild to 70744 to give £4 or visit www.nspcc.org.uk
Yours sincerely,
Catherine Nuttall,
NSPCC Northern Ireland Fundraising Head Of Region.
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