Funding crisis could end Childline night service

A funding crisis at children’s charity Childline could
force it to close its night service, leaving desperate children
with no-one to call.

Childline has launched an emergency appeal to raise the £1m it
needs to prevent it from closing at night, when children can speak
to trained counsellors from 9.30pm to 7.30am.

“The children who call us in the night are often in desperate
need,” a spokesperson said. “They may have run away
from home, or been abused, or be in the process of taking their own
lives. They might have pills out in front of them, or be about to
cut themselves.”

She said that around 9,000 children used the night service last
year, accounting for almost a quarter of all referrals to the
police or social services.

Childline obtains 90% of its funding from private donations and
charities. The remaining 10% comes from a range of sources,
including the Department of Health, the National Assembly for
Wales, the Scottish executive and local authorities across the
UK.