Tuesday, November 15, 2005

children in need...

Children in Need

Did you know

Last year BBC Children in Need raised £34.2 million thanks to your generous donations.
BBC Children in Need helps disadvantaged children in the UK to have a better life. These include children who are chronically ill or profoundly disabled, those who've been badly treated by the adults around them, children who live in poverty or inadequate housing, and some who are bullied, excluded or distressed.


Substance abuse
Fact: there are 1.3 million children in England and Wales whose parents misuse alcohol and up to 350,000 children who have a parent with a serious drug problem.
Source: Statistics on young people and drug misuse, England 2002, Statistical bulletin 2003/2004 Department of Health, July 2003.
Child prostitution
Fact: in Britain an estimated 5,000 minors are involved in prostitution.
Fact: in a survey of child prostitutes, 42 per cent said their first sexual experience was of abuse.
Bullying
Fact: bullying is the single biggest reason for children to call ChildLine - it now accounts for one in four calls.
Fact: one-third of pupils in England and Wales have been bullied in the past year.
Fact: one in 11 children missed school in the past year through fear of violence.
Source: NCH Factfile 2002 to 2003.



Sexual abuse
Fact: the single main need for social service intervention for children is cases of 'abuse and neglect', which account for 55 per cent of all children looked after.
Illness and HIV
Fact: an estimated 20,000 children in the UK are living with a diagnosed life-threatening illness at any one time
Homelessness
Fact: between a quarter and a third of all rough sleepers have been in the care system.
Fact: a third of homeless young people have attempted suicide.
Fact: 80 per cent of young homeless people have left home because of family conflict, family breakdown, evictions or abuse.
Source: Addressing the health needs of rough sleepers - Griffiths S (a paper to the Homelessness Directorate in ODPM, 2002).
Disability
Fact: an estimated 17,000 families in the UK have more than one disabled child.
Fact: parents of disabled children face three times the costs of parents of non-disabled children.
Fact: disabled children are three times more likely to be abused or neglected than non-disabled children.
Source: Facts 1 and 2 - Supporting Disabled Children and Families, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 1999. Fact 3 - Maltreatment and Disabilities, Sullivan and Knutson, 2000.
Self-harm
Fact: adolescents who self-harm are most at risk of developing mental disorders and personality disturbances in later life. There's often a background of abuse and family dysfunction.
Source: about 19,000 young people are admitted to hospital each year because of incidents of self-harm.

Ok not really a blog by me this week but I just wanted to promote Children in Need this Friday a charity after my own heart

Back to me next week

Love Lisa xx

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Some really scary facts, it makes you realise how lucky you are to be normal(whatever normal is!) Gx