According to the NSPCC’s recently published statistics, there were 93,000 children from all parts of the UK in need of care last year. Of these, an estimated 62% are children in need of protection from abuse or neglect in both England (42,460) and Wales (3,695) – Northern Ireland and Scotland do not publish reasons for children being in care.
The rest of the children recorded in the above statistics had a variety of reasons for needing care, including being severely disabled, or having parents that are absent, as in the cases of unaccompanied asylum seekers or orphans, for example. Some only required short-term care.
Local authorities and charities concerned with the welfare of children and young people work closely with the NSPCC as their experience and professionalism has developed good working practices for professionals who are in social care jobs. The BBC‘s UK corporate Children in Need Charity is one such charity who works alongside the NSPCC and it refers to the NSPCC’s fundraising best practice guidelines.[]
Last year, BBC Children in Need grants helped more than 480,000 UK children. The BBC has broadcast appeals for children for over 50 years, from the time of their first radio broadcast, “Children’s Hour Christmas Appeal” in 1927. The first television broadcast appeal on Christmas Day, was in 1955 and these Christmas day appeals continued until 1979 on both radio and television.
The familiar Pudsy bear, the BBC Children in Need’s appeal mascot, first appeared in 1985 and he remains popular today with young children. So far, these appeals to the generous public have raised over £740 million pounds, all of which will be used to provide grants for projects focusing on the needs of children and young people in the UK.
Some grants are used for the employment of professionally qualified counsellors who have experience with young people, to deliver accessible counselling in an appropriately private but safe setting. Only last month, the BBC Children in Need charity granted funding in Northern Ireland to provide a new service for NEXUSNI, a charity which offers counselling to victims of sexual abuse and rape who are between 11 and 16 years old.
The NSPCC are key partners of NexusNI, who are using their model, “Letting in the Future” for training. They are currently recruiting Young People’s Counsellors and Family Support Workers, social care jobs funded by the BBC Children in Need charity.
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