NSPCC leads effort to encourage adults to act on child cruelty concerns

The NSPCC has called on the government to do more to encourage adults to report child cruelty after a recent poll suggested that more than 250,000 people in the UK had suspected a child was being abused but done nothing about it.

Launching its latest campaign to raise awareness about how to deal with cases of possible child cruelty, the children’s charity said it was imperative the government followed last year’s advice from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and fund similar action.

Head of child protection awareness Chris Cloke said society was still placing too much responsibility on children to report abuse, and that the charity’s campaign was aimed at ensuring adults were aware of the “crucial role” they had to play.

The poll of almost 10,000 adults found that the most common reasons for not acting on concerns about a child were not wanting to get involved and not knowing what to do.

It also highlighted a need to address concerns still harboured by many that reporting abuse would automatically result in a family being split up and the child placed into care, Cloke said.

As part of the Talk ‘til it stops campaign, due to be launched on October 3, the NSPCC plans to canvass over nine million households on child protection issues and to set up a website to guide adults through what to do if they suspect abuse.