According to a report released by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), in the year to March 2012, counselors working on the charity’s 24-hour free phone service dealt with over 12,000 calls about child neglect.
It also warned that in 8,600 of the reported cases subject to child-protection plans, the charity required the involvement of police or social services because the concerns were serious.
Callers to the NSPCC helpline described starving children begging their neighbors for food, youngsters left home alone or outside in the cold by their working parents who cannot afford child care.
“More people than ever are contacting the NSPCC about child neglect,” said Ruth Gardner, head of the charity’s neglect program. “Some of this will be down to the public being more willing to speak out – and this can only be a positive thing – but there is clearly a worrying trend, not just in our figures, but from a range of agencies and bodies. More research is needed on why this sharp increase has occurred.”
Moreover, the NSPCC’s statistics showed that calls to the charity helpline have more than doubled in recent two years.
“The mother, she’s an alcoholic and she’s drinking 24/7, and the child, who is three years old, is not being looked after properly. I walked into the house; the mother was passed out and the door was wide open. The child was playing with the kettle and had got a bottle of bleach,” said one caller to the charity’s helpline.
SSM/JR/HE
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