How to anonymously call child services

Someone I Know is Being Abused. Should I Call the Police?

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Here at The Hotline, we have conversations with family members, friends, coworkers and caring neighbors about what to do when someone they know is being abused. Knowing that someone in your life is being hurt is really difficult, and it’s normal to feel unsure about how to best approach this challenging situation. Many people feel like calling the police can be a way to help. In a moment of a crisis, it’s natural to want to reach out for support from local law enforcement; however, you may be surprised to hear that it’s not always the best response for an individual in an abusive relationship.

Have they safety planned with you?

If a person experiencing abuse has not created a safety plan with you about when to contact police on their behalf, doing so without the person’s consent can limit their opportunities to make choices based on what they personally know to be most beneficial to support their safety and well-being.

The person experiencing abuse may not be in a place to speak honestly with law enforcement about the abuse.

If law enforcement does show up, it might be safest for the person being abused to deny or downplay the abuse, particularly if the abusive individual is present.

Having police involved could upset the abusive partner.

When the police leave, the abuser might harm their partner more because police were involved.

The police might not believe that abuse is happening.

It’s common that the abusive partner will lie or manipulate the situation to the police to get them to go away.

The abusive partner might have connections to the police department.

This can create a very difficult situation for the victim because the abusive partner is in a position of power outside of the relationship.

If the victim is in an LGBTQ+ relationship, the police might hold the common (though incorrect) belief that abuse isn’t possible in these types of relationships.

Learn more about LGBTQ+ abuse here.

One thing we always encourage is being mindful and respectful of what the person who is experiencing abuse wants in their situation. In an abusive relationship, the victim rarely (if ever) has their wishes or boundaries respected. Honoring boundaries and being respectful of what the victim wants can be a great way to show them what a healthy and supportive relationship looks like. Also, it’s important to keep in mind that it is not your responsibility to rescue someone or “fix” their situation. A person who is in an abusive relationship has the right to decide if/when they leave and how, and there are many reasons why a person might stay in an abusive relationship.

If you are a person the victim knows and trusts, talk to the victim about what they want.

Try to find a safe time and place to speak with them (away from the abusive partner) and ask how you can best support them. They may not be ready or able to discuss the abuse with you; if this is the case, just let them know that you are there to support them in any way you can.

Every time you hear abuse happening, keep a journal about the events.

Mark the day it happens, the time it happens and what you heard or witnessed. This record can provide evidence if the victim does choose to approach law enforcement.

Help the victim create a safety plan when you’re able to find a safe time and place to communicate.

You can always contact one of our advocates to help you brainstorm about safety planning.

If you live next to the person and hear abuse happening, you could knock on the door and ask to borrow an item as a way to interrupt what’s happening.

Reach out to a local or state domestic violence agency.

Learn more about what abuse can look like, understand what the victim is going through and get more information on how you can offer support.

Learn more about local resources here.

If you live in a community with communal areas, like a mail room or laundry room, posting a flyer from The Hotline with contact information could be a way to help a person experiencing abuse reach out for support.

While we know that calling the police may not always be the safest option for a victim, there could be circumstances in which it might be necessary, for example, if the victim is in imminent physical danger. Keep in mind that if at any point you personally feel in danger or unsafe, you have every right to contact police for yourself. Your personal safety and well-being are very important as well.

If you’re still struggling with how to support someone you know that’s experiencing abuse, you can check out, Help for Friends and Family Members. You can also reach out to one of our advocates by phone or chat, 24/7/365.

Answers shouldn’t be hard to find.

We're here to help!

Call 1.800.799.SAFE (7233)
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Text "START" to 88788

How to Report Child Abuse and Neglect

There are ways you can help stop child maltreatment if you suspect or know that a child is being abused or neglected. If you or someone else is in immediate and serious danger, you should call 911.

You may be wondering who can report child abuse and neglect, what information is included in a report, or what happens after a report is made. On this page, find answers to your questions, as well as national and local resources that are available to provide assistance and information about reporting suspected maltreatment.

How do I report suspected child abuse or neglect?

State Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Numbers
Contact your local child protective services office or law enforcement agency.

Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline
Childhelp
Provides information on the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline (Call or text 1.800.4.A.CHILD [1.800.422.4453]). Professional crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in over 170 languages. All calls are confidential. The hotline offers crisis intervention, information, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources.

CyberTipline
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (2022)
Provides information about how to report online sexual exploitation of a child or if you suspect that a child has been inappropriately contacted online. Information will be made available to law enforcement to investigate.

Child Welfare Information Gateway is not a hotline for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect, and it is not equipped to accept reports or intervene in personal situations of this nature.

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Who can report child abuse or neglect?

Anyone can report suspected child abuse or neglect. Reporting abuse or neglect can protect a child and get help for a family.

Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect
All U.S. States and territories have laws identifying persons who are required to report suspected child abuse or neglect. Mandatory reporters may include social workers, teachers and other school personnel, child care providers, physicians and other health-care workers, mental health professionals, and law enforcement officers. Some States require any person who suspects child abuse or neglect to report.

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What do I report when I suspect child abuse or neglect?

Provide a complete, honest account of what you observed that led you to suspect the occurrence of child abuse or neglect. Any reasonable suspicion is sufficient.

What Is Child Abuse and Neglect? Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms
Learn how to identify and report child abuse or neglect and refer children who may have been maltreated. This factsheet provides information on the legal definitions, different types, and signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect.

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What will happen after I make a report of child abuse or neglect?

After you make a report, it will be sent to child protective services (CPS). When CPS receives a report, the CPS worker reviews the information and determines if an investigation is needed. The CPS worker may talk with the family, the child, or others to help determine what is making the child unsafe. The CPS worker can help parents or other caregivers get services, education, or other assistance.

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Helpline for children and adolescents operates around the clock in St. Petersburg

March 23, 2017

In St. Petersburg, there is a helpline for children and adolescents who find themselves in a difficult life situation or face a difficult choice.

A child, teenager, their parents or legal representatives can anonymously call the Hotline at 747-13-40. Confidentiality and free of charge are the two main principles of the helpline. This means that you can get psychological help anonymously and free of charge, and the secrecy of the treatment is guaranteed. The purpose of such assistance is to contribute to the prevention of family problems, stressful and suicidal moods of children and adolescents, and the protection of their rights. nine0003

The helpline is open every day, on weekends and holidays. You can also use the single all-Russian helpline for children, adolescents and their parents: 8-800-2000-122, and other helplines: 004, 576-10-10.

Each of us has situations in life that are difficult to handle on our own. Quarrels, conflicts, loneliness, strong feelings, difficulty making decisions, heavy losses, grief. Disagreements between parents and teenage children are a special issue. The transitional age requires increased attention, understanding and handling of the child. Parents face various difficulties that make it difficult to find the right path leading to mutual understanding and peace in the family, including a decrease in interest in or refusal to continue studying, refusal to help with household chores, a teenager's closeness from parents, when he gradually moves away more and more , and at some point his inner world becomes absolutely inaccessible to his parents. nine0003

Adults are frightened by the appearance of non-traditional hobbies and interests, for example, joining informal youth associations, choosing an idol whose values are contrary to those instilled in the family, experimenting with appearance, and the like.

Many parents disapprove of friends to whom the child is drawn, and also inactively scold for the appearance of bad habits (smoking, drinking, suspected drug experiments) and other addictions (gambling and computer games), this includes “hanging out” on the Internet, especially when it becomes the main pastime to the detriment of studying and communicating with loved ones. nine0003

A teenager, of course, has his own position in relation to the opinions of adults, and it is also difficult for him to survive the misunderstanding that has arisen. Then moral support is very important. But not always there is a person who can be trusted. Relatives may not understand, friends are far away, it is embarrassing to turn to strangers ... it is at such moments that a helpline can be the best help.

The hotline works anonymously, that is, the caller does not know and does not see the consultant, and the consultant does not know and does not see the caller. This relieves the awkwardness and embarrassment that prevents some people from seeking counseling. Sometimes it can be difficult to decide to open up to a stranger and ask for help, but here you just need to pick up the phone and dial a number. And you can be sure that the child will be listened to, understood and helped to find a way out. nine0003

Help line can be obtained right at the moment of contact. This is convenient, because you can call from home, from the street, you don’t have to go anywhere, make an appointment for another day. What is especially important in those acute situations when a person simply does not have the strength to wait, when you need to talk to someone right now, at this very moment to share your feelings and get support.

A teenager or adult will receive qualified psychological help through the helpline. Some people do not go to a psychologist and try to discuss their problems with friends. But friends can only give advice based on their personal experience, and specially trained psychologists work at the Hotline, who have a large database and, if necessary, will be able to suggest where it is better to contact in a given situation. nine0003

Calls to the hotline are anonymous and free of charge. Phone 747-13-40 is open every day, on weekends and holidays.

You can also use the unified all-Russian helpline for children, adolescents and their parents: 8-800-2000-122, and other helplines: 004, 576-10-10.

The Hot Line project was created by the St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution "City Center for Social Programs and Prevention of Antisocial Phenomena among Youth" CONTACT ", which is a subordinate institution of the Committee for Youth Policy and Interaction with Public Organizations. The hotline began its work in St. Petersburg in 2011. It is designed to provide qualified, emergency, anonymous, free psychological and informational assistance. Work on the "Hot Line" also includes prompt response with the involvement of specialized organizations. nineOlga Sharikhina, tel. for youth policy and interaction with public organizations Tatyana Lebedeva, tel.: 417-21-74.

Children's helpline - General information

nine0002 Sector of remote consultation "Children's helpline"

In 2005, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its recommendations to Russia as a State Party, made a recommendation to establish a free telephone service available around the clock for calls related to the needs of children. These recommendations are being put into practice, and since September 2010 a unified one has been operating in Russia. All-Russian children's helpline number 8-800-2000-122. This emphasizes the strategic priorities of the state social policy in the field of creating a safe environment for the development of a maturing child. nine0003

Telephone counseling is of particular importance in a situation where face-to-face psychological assistance is impossible for various reasons. The advantages of telephone counseling are the minimization of outside influences on a person, accessibility, anonymity, confidentiality, urgency of assistance. Contacting a child on the helpline is not mediated by the influence of parents or other adults, and therefore telephone psychological counseling becomes one of the real forms of assistance to a child in a crisis situation. nine0003

In MSUPE since September 1, 2008 in the Center for Emergency Psychological Assistance there has been a remote counseling sector "Children's Helpline". The children's helpline operates on the multichannel number 8 (495) 624-60-01.

Since June 2011, the Service has been connected to the All-Russian Children's Helpline and additionally receives calls from 8-800-2000-122.
The purpose of the Children's Helpline is to provide emergency psychological assistance to subjects of the educational process by means of telephone counseling around the clock on a daily basis on condition of anonymity. nine0003

Children's helpline is designed to perform the functions of psychological support and assistance in especially difficult crisis situations. A child, his parent, relative, teacher, by calling the Service, can openly talk about what worries him, worries, without giving his name and his coordinates.

Basic principles of operation of the Children's Helpline:

anonymity: neither the subscriber nor the consultant is required to identify themselves, to transfer their personal data; the consultant often has a pseudonym, the subscriber can introduce himself with any name, or not report it at all, the subscriber's telephone number is not fixed
confidentiality: the content of the conversation is not recorded, without the consent of the subscriber is not transferred to a third party; the subject of the analysis is information about the call: the category of the problem, the age of the subscriber and his social status (if the subscriber
reported them)
tolerance: respect for the client expressed by the consultant
call control: the subscriber can terminate the call at any time
professional client assistance: the consultant is a person with
professionally selected and specially trained work experience

Children's helpline psychologists advise children, adolescents, parents, teachers on any issues related to the development, education, upbringing of children, provide psychological support and assistance in difficult life situations.

The service operates around the clock (excluding holidays and weekends). Working shifts of psychologists are formed taking into account the number of calls from subscribers and consist of two or three psychologists per day shift (from 9-00 to 21-00) and two psychologists on the night shift (from 21-00 to 9-00).

In addition to psychologists and educational psychologists, the Children's Helpline employs a lawyer (on Thursdays from 17:00 to 21:00) who advises on legal aspects of regulating parent-child, family and other relationships.

Tasks of the Children's Helpline Service:

counseling of the population (mainly children, parents, teachers) who applied for psychological help by phone
increasing the psychological literacy of the population by providing clients with information focused on solving problems of a personal and social nature
implementation of organizational, methodological and supervisory activities in order to increase the efficiency of the work of children's helpline specialists
conducting scientific research on the problems of professional "burnout" of employees of children's helplines, the effective provision of psychological assistance, the search for new methods of counseling
development of educational programs and educational materials for training and professional retraining, advanced training of psychologists of telephone counseling services
cooperation and coordination of activities with institutions and organizations (centers, services) providing psychological, medical and social assistance to children, adolescents and youth on the provision of emergency psychological assistance through telephone counseling
monitoring and content analysis of subscribers' requests
organization of practice for students and volunteers: conducting training events, consultations, supervision of their activities

Specifics of subscribers' calls to the Children's Helpline Service

Every year the Children's Helpline service receives about 35,000 calls. Children and adolescents aged 4 to 18 apply to the Service. It can be noted that the main problems in children of different ages are related to relationships with parents, first of all, these are various types of family conflicts.

The next most important category of appeals concerns difficulties in relationships with peers (misunderstanding, aggression, isolation, dissatisfaction with communication). nine0003

Educational problems of children are mainly associated with insufficient educational motivation, with issues of relationships with teachers or complaints about the increased complexity of curricula and excessive demands from teachers. Another significant problem of adolescent and youth subscribers concerns relationships with the opposite sex (first love, difficulties arising from a lack of gender interaction skills, etc.).

If in the process of work it becomes clear that one cannot do without specialized face-to-face assistance, then one of the main tasks of telephone counseling becomes to motivate the child to involve the closest adult environment in the problem from
for the purpose of further contacting face-to-face help services. In parallel, the child is explained the specifics of the activities of such services.

In addition, if necessary, with the consent of the subscriber, the information received from him can be transferred to crisis services (Ministry of Emergency Situations, police, ambulance, social services).

The experience of child psychologists shows that the effective resolution of many problems of a child depends on the participation in this process of his immediate environment (parents, other relatives, relatives, friends). nine0003

Almost a third of requests from parents and close children are related to conflicts and misunderstanding of children, mistakes in raising children in the family, the absence of a father in the process of raising a child, and situational problems in the process of communicating with children. It can be assumed that a significant number of requests related to family difficulties are due to insufficient awareness of parents about the specifics of the age development of children and the lack of uniform requirements for a child in the family, as well as the inconsistency of pedagogical influences. nine0003

The largest number of requests from parents regarding educational problems in children are related to difficulties in mastering educational material and preparing for lessons; difficulties in relationships with classmates and teachers; a decrease in the educational motivation of students and frequent absences from school; conflicts with class teachers and with the administration of an educational institution, etc.

Problems of physical and mental health of children - the third largest group of requests received from an adult audience. Two thematic subgroups can be distinguished: the first concerns the problems of poor health of children (congenital or acquired diseases) and the resulting difficulties in teaching and raising a child; the second includes appeals related to parents' concerns about the health of their children due to a high study load or weakened immunity. nine0003

Crisis appeals from parents most often relate to various types of violence (in the family, in an educational institution, on the street). It is not uncommon for informational and legal requests related to this category of problems. Parents' requests related to various forms of maladaptation of the child mainly relate to the following problems: bullying - aggressive persecution of one of the members of the team; adaptation in connection with the transition of the child to a new educational institution; prolonged school maladaptation. nine0003

About 80% of requests received from an adult audience (children's relatives, teachers, friends, neighbors, etc.) concerned the difficulties of childhood, the rest are related to personal psychological problems. In this case, work with such requests is carried out only when the subscriber is in an excited or alarmed state. All other calls are re-profiled into other psychological services of the city.

The effectiveness of psychological telephone counseling is rather difficult to assess due to the lack of feedback and information about the future fate of subscribers. At the same time, in the practice of telephone counseling, several indirect signs of evaluating the effectiveness of this type of psychological assistance are accepted. First of all, this is the number of hits from the target audience. nine0003

Additional signs of the effectiveness of the Service can be repeated calls of subscribers with gratitude. There are also repeated requests from subscribers focused on continuing to work with the stated problem. In addition, the quality of consultations provided by psychologists is supervised daily by the Supervisors of the Service.

The main activities of the Children's Helpline

In addition to direct advisory work, the specialists of the Children's Helpline participate in scientific, practical, methodological and educational activities. nine0003

In 2010-2019 On the instructions of the Foundation for Support of Children in Difficult Life Situations, on the basis of the Children's Helpline of the CEPP, advanced training courses are being held for specialists of the All-Russian Children's Helpline. In total, more than 1,300 specialists working in the field of children's telephone counseling from different regions of the Russian Federation have been trained under advanced training programs.

In 2009-2011 On the basis of the Service, annual all-Russian scientific and practical conferences were held, aimed at summarizing the experience in the field of children's telephone counseling. More than 350 specialists from 17 regions of Russia took part in the conferences. nine0003

Employees of the Service are the authors of more than 100 publications, three methodological manuals in the field of telephone counseling. The specialists of the Service make presentations at conferences, seminars, round tables devoted to the problems of childhood, as well as conduct master classes for specialists of Helplines.

Every year, on the basis of the Service, students of the Moscow State Psychological and Pedagogical University conduct internships and diplomas. After completing their studies at the university, some of them come to work in the Service. nine0003

Specialists working on the anonymous, free round-the-clock telephone line of the Children's Helpline will listen and provide professional and timely psychological assistance and support.