Child abuse is the term used when an adult harms a child or young person. This can take 4 forms, all of which can cause long term damage to a child: physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and sexual abuse. 18% of children experience humiliation or attacks on self-esteem during childhood, and over half of all school children think that bullying is a problem in their school. Last year, nearly 3,000 children called ChildLine because they were so desperately unhappy they felt they wanted to die.

Helplines are widely known to play a critical role in child protection, identifying children at risk and providing support and confidential space. Last year ChildLine answered more than 450,000 calls from children and young people who would otherwise have remained unheard, sometimes suffering abuse in the most horrific ways. We launched online 1-2-1 counselling in 2009 to allow more children to seek help in the way they feel most comfortable.