Resource: The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline
A free 24/7 hotline, an interactive map, worksheets, book and podcast recs.
Recently I came across this resource and wanted to pass it along to you.
Childhelp is a US non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child abuse. It is one of the largest non-profit child abuse prevention and treatment organizations in the nation.
Their mission statement reads as follows:
Childhelp exists to meet the physical, emotional, educational and spiritual needs of abused, neglected and at-risk children. We focus our efforts on advocacy, intervention, treatment, prevention, family resilience and community outreach.
They have a plethora of different resources, including:
a free 24/7 hotline that you can call or text (800-422-4453)
a free 24/7 online chat with counselors
an interactive national map where you can find out more information about a specific state’s laws related to child welfare (each state has its own definitions of child abuse and neglect; this determines if and how investigations are done)
tutorials for identifying different forms of abuse
resources for teens confronting abuse, including coping worksheets and FAQs
resources for survivors, including books, podcasts and other organizations
From their website: The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline specializes in child abuse, child welfare, and the impact of the trauma of child abuse on survivor’s and loved ones’ mental well-being. Counselors provide support, coping resources, and crisis counseling to helpseekers first and foremost.
Counselors also can provide information to help guide helpseekers through the process of making a child maltreatment report and can provide information on how the child welfare system works.
The Childhelp hotline has a database of over 10,000 national, local and international resources to help you connect with additional services and can connect to interpretation services being available for 170 languages on crisis calls.
I tried the chat feature and asked the counselor what they would recommend if there was a child being abused, and there had already been multiple reports to child protective services. They suggested filing a formal complaint against family services with the state, with the ombudsman, and provided the number to contact. (Arizona’s is 602-255-2500, if you want to make a complaint against their DCFS).
If you decide to try the chat feature, or any of their other resources— like reading one of the recommended books, or sharing the coping worksheet with your teen— could you please let me know what you thought?
Or, if you are like Ruth (a pseudonym for the protective parent I came to know when writing my thesis), you may have to make multiple reports to child protective services. The Childhelp hotline says that they could help you through that process, which is stressful and scary. I hope they could be helpful to you.
Take care.