C
HICHILDLINE

We hear your call!

DIAL 800-4321

What is ChildLine?

ChildLine is a project of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The project is sponsored by ATLANTIC FOR CHILDREN, a private fund managed exclusively by Atlantic LNG company of Trinidad and Tobago for the benefit of children. The Coalition has long been an advocate for children's issues, recognising that children in distress need avenues to access help and support.

ChildLine is a proactive response to the needs of children and young persons. It is a free, confidential telephone hotline for children and young persons in trouble or danger or who simply need someone to talk to. ChildLine will take calls from anywhere in Trinidad and Tobago.

Volunteer listeners who receive specialised training that equips them to respond to the concerns of children and young persons will staff the hotline. They provide support and help callers to work through some of the trauma they may be experiencing. They listen and, whenever possible, guide callers to obtain solutions within the family or circle of relatives. ChildLine will, when asked, also refer children and, if necessary, their families, to the appropriate help in agencies and personnel.

ChildLine does not share information with any other agency or person unless specifically requested to do so by the caller. The service is completely confidential.

Why ChildLine?

TThere are several telephone helplines in Trinidad and Tobago. However, these do not cater exclusively to the needs of children and young persons. ChildLine fills this need by providing children with their own service that they can turn to when they need help.

A telephone hotline offers several advantages as an outreach mechanism.

• It is free. There are no telephone charges or counselling fees.
  
  It provides a child with access to counselling services more easily than she/he would normally be able to have on her/his own.
  
  It is available outside of normal school or working hours.
  
• The caller remains anonymous and therefore there is no discomfort caused by having to disclose one's identity.
  
  There is no need to make an appointment; the service is readily accessible.

Who uses ChildLine?

The helpline is not intended to take the place of families or significant others in a child's life. It does not replace specialised counselling services. Rather, it is geared towards supporting children who cannot find help in their own social networks - children who feel they have nowhere else to turn.

Because the caller can remain anonymous, children feel free to call about issues they may be unable to discuss face to face.

Children and young persons can call with any kind of problem such as:

For a child or young person the first place to find help is usually within the family. Unfortunately, for some children, the family is the place where the child's problems might be located. Some examples of this are children who are victims of incestuous sexual abuse and those who are battered by alcoholic parents. ChildLine offers these children the opportunity to find support and guidance to help them through these painful experiences.

ChildLine is also useful for young persons who want information on how to help a friend. This is of extreme importance since the first person a child or young person is likely to confide in is a friend or someone his/her own age. However, that minor may have limited knowledge on how to handle the problem.

ChildLine can assist by providing the relevant information or directing the caller to a place where she/he can get help.

ChildLine will not meddle in the affairs of children and their families.

ChildLine is not meant to encourage children and young persons to "tell tales" about their parents, guardians or other persons. What it will do is give children the opportunity to talk about the pain, fear and desperation they feel because of the situations they face. For example, children who are being abused are usually threatened into silence and told that if they tell someone they will never be believed. These children believe that they are responsible for the abuse they receive. Therefore, with the pain of abuse fomes guilt and shame. These children need to be encouraged to put their pain and confusion into words so that they can get the help they need.

ChildLine will not meddle in the affairs of children and their families. In fact, the focus is to help children find ways in which they can share their experiences with their parents or other trusted adults in their families - an aunt, cousin, big brother or friend of the family. In that way, we help build bridges in, and strenthen, families.

Young persons are usually very brave and resourceful. What they sometimes need is someone to help them work out their options and the possible implications. Out listeners will help children develop the confidence they need to approach the adults - parents, teachers, and religious leaders, who can help them.

How does ChildLine work?

Caller dials 800-4321.

ChildLine listener responds.

Listener provides support and help and if necessary, directs caller to referral agency.

ChildLine does not claim to have all the answers. Nor do we intend to take the role of parents, guardians, religous leaders or significan others in a child's life. Our focus is to provide children with a listening ear - with someone who will believe them and attend to their concerns. Children are encouraged to talk their way through their problems and come up with their own answers. Through a process of empowerment, we aim to help them find a way out of the difficult circumstances in which they may find themselves, and thereby make their lives more pleasant and fulfilled.

For further information on ChildLine, including how to become a volunteer listener, please contact us at:

ChildLine
63 Abercromby Street,
Port of Spain
Tel: 624-0402 Fax: 627-6844

ChildLine is a project of Trinidad and Tobago Coalition Against Domestic Violence. ChildLine is sponsored in 2001/2 by Atlantic for Children, a programme of Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad and Tobago, exclusively for the benefit of children. Established in 1997, atlantic for Children is national in scope and the variety of projects considered annually is supported entirely by Atlantic LNG.

ChildLine Workshop
at Tunapuna Library

ChildLine display
at Arima Library

Winner of ChildLine
quiz

Outreach volunteer
giving out ChildLine
posters to passersby

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