The Helpline provides adults with a place they can get advice and support, share their concerns about a child or get general information about child protection.
There are two bases in the UK – one of them is in Belfast and it operates 365 days per year to protect children in Northern Ireland and across the rest of the UK.
In the period before the first national lockdown (6 Jan – 22 Mar 2020), there was an average of 709 contacts a month from adults worried a child was being placed at risk by their parent or carer’s use of drink and/or drugs.
In the ten months since then (1 Apr – 31 Jan 2021) this increased to an average of 1,178 contacts a month, with a record 1,369 in October alone.