National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Nspcc logo 2.png
Registration No. 216401
Founded 1884 (as the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children)
Headquarters London, England
Coordinates 51°31′23″N 0°04′50″W / 51.523174°N 0.080502°W / 51.523174; -0.080502
Key people Mark Wood
(Chairman)
Andrew Flanagan
(Chief Executive)
Area served England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands
Product(s) Campaigning and working in child protection
Revenue £157.5 million
Volunteers 17,000
Employees Approx. 2,500[1]
Motto "Cruelty to children must stop. FULL STOP."
Website http://www.nspcc.org.uk

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a charity campaigning and working in child protection in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.

Contents

History [edit]

On a trip to New York in 1881, Liverpool businessman Thomas Agnew (1834–1924) visited the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He was so impressed by the charity, that he returned to England determined to provide similar help for the children of Liverpool. In 1883 he set up the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC). Other towns and cities began to follow Liverpool’s example, leading in 1884 to the founding of the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (London SPCC)[2] by Lord Shaftesbury, Reverend Edward Rudolf and Reverend Benjamin Waugh. After five years of campaigning by the London SPCC, Parliament passed the first ever UK law to protect children from abuse and neglect in 1889. The London SPCC was renamed the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 1889,[2] because by then it had branches across Great Britain and Ireland.

The NSPCC was granted its Royal Charter in 1895, when Queen Victoria became its first Royal Patron. It did not change its title to "Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children" or similar, as the name NSPCC was already well established, and to avoid confusion with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), which had already existed for more than fifty years. Today, the NSPCC works in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Channel Islands. Children 1st – formerly the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children – is the NSPCC's equivalent in Scotland. The NSPCC's organisation in the Republic of Ireland was taken up by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC), founded in 1956 as a replacement for the NSPCC.[3] The NSPCC is the only UK charity which has been granted statutory powers under the Children Act 1989, allowing it to apply for care and supervision orders for children at risk. The charity is regularly audited and publishes its annual report and accounts as required by the Charity Commission.[4]

Activities [edit]

NSPCC Head Office

The NSPCC lobbies the government on issues relating to child welfare, and creates campaigns for the general public, with the intention of raising awareness of child protection issues. It also operates both a helpline on 0808 800 5000, for anyone concerned about a child, and ChildLine offering support to children themselves. Childline became a part of the NSPCC in 2006. In addition to the telephone helplines, NSPCC provides an online counselling service for children & young people at www.Childline.org.uk

The NSPCC runs local service centres across the UK where it tries to help children, young people and families.[5] Since 2009, the NSPCC has run a Child Protection Consultancy service aiming to make organisations safer for children. This offers training and consultancy to organisations which have contact with children, ranging from schools to sporting bodies. The charity works through local safeguarding children’s boards (LSCBs), where the police, health, social and education services and others can work together.

Involvement in the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal [edit]

In October 2012 ITV broadcast 'Exposure: The Other Side to Jimmy Savile', which revealed allegations of historical abuse against the former BBC star going back several decades. A series of inquiries were launched by the BBC, the Department of Health, the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Metropolitan Police launched Operation Yewtree and appealed for anyone who had suffered abuse at the hands of Savile or other perpetrators to contact them or the NSPCC helpline. Subsequently more than 600 people came forward to provide information, with about 450 cases referring to Jimmy Savile. The NSPCC and the Metropolitan Police published a report ‘Giving Victims a Voice’ in January 2013, which summarised the findings of the investigation.[6]

Campaigning and controversy [edit]

In 2011 the NSPCC launched its All Babies Count campaign to highlight the vulnerability of babies and calling for better and earlier support for new parents.[7] In 2012 the charity won a PRCA award for its Don’t Wait Until You’re Certain campaign that encouraged people to call the NSPCC with any worry about a child.[8]

The NSPCC's campaigning role has often been controversial. The Guardian reported New Philanthropy Capital recently concluded that its campaigning is "flawed and naïve" and that there is "zero evidence" that £250m the NSPCC has spent on its recent "Full Stop" campaign actually benefited any children.[9] The NSPCC also received complaints, amongst other things, for "cold" mailing young mothers with a "babies' names" booklet containing instead a detailed list of the deaths of babies.[10]

In recent years, the charity has faced criticism for its stance on contact visits to children following parents' separation. The NSPCC has consistently opposed an automatic right of contact for both parents, arguing that this is not necessarily in the best interests of the child. This stance has led to criticism both in Parliament[11] and by the fathers' rights group Fathers4Justice. In 2004, the London headquarters of NSPCC were briefly invaded and occupied by Fathers4Justice supporters, claiming that the NSPCC "ignores the plight of 100 children a day who lose contact with their fathers" and that they promote a "portrayal of men as violent abusers."[12]

The NSPCC also faced criticism for failing (along with other organisations) to do enough to help Victoria Climbié and prevent her death, and also for misleading the inquiry into her death.[13]

The organisation has also faced criticism for its allegedly increasing obsession with publicity and advertising, for fear mongering[14][15] and supposedly fabricating or exaggerating facts and figures in its research. In an article on Spiked, Frank Furedi professor of sociology at the University of Kent, branded it a "lobby group devoted to publicising its peculiar brand of anti-parent propaganda and promoting itself."[16]

David Hinchliffe, Labour MP, supported expenditure on campaigning, stating that the NSPCC's role should be about raising awareness,[17] whilst Conservative MP Gerald Howarth described it as "completely incompetent" although he cited the charity's support for reducing the homosexual age of consent to 16 as the reason for him withdrawing his support for the Full Stop campaign.[17]

The NSPCC also helps to fund, and is aided with funds raised by, the national will-making scheme Will aid, in which participating solicitors waive their usual fee to write a basic will and in exchange invite the client to donate to charity.[18]

Satanic ritual abuse scandal [edit]

Main articles: Satanic ritual abuse and List of satanic ritual abuse allegations#United Kingdom

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, a moral panic emerged over alleged ritual satanic abuse. The NSPCC provided a publication known as 'Satanic Indicators' to social services around the country that has been blamed for some social workers panicking and making false accusations. The most prominent of these cases was in Rochdale in 1990 when up to 20[19] children were taken from their homes and parents after social services believed them to be involved in satanic or occult ritual abuse. The allegations were later found out to be false. The case was the subject of a BBC documentary which featured recordings of the interviews made by NSPCC social workers, revealing that flawed techniques and leading questions were used to gain evidence of abuse from the children. The documentary claimed that the social services were wrongly convinced, by organisations such as the NSPCC, that abuse was occurring and so rife that they made allegations before any evidence was considered.[20][21]

Values [edit]

The NSPCC's stated core values are based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

They are:

  • Children must be protected from all forms of violence and exploitation
  • Everyone has a responsibility to support the care and protection of children
  • We listen to children and young people, respect their views and respond to them directly
  • Children should be encouraged and enabled to fulfil their potential
  • We challenge inequalities for children and young people
  • Every child must have someone to turn to

VHS/DVDs [edit]

Here's a list of NSPCC VHS/DVDS. Some are involved with NCH. between 1990 and 1993 Tempo Video/Abbey Home Entertainment released two 'Children's T.V. Favourites' compilations on behalf of the NSPCC.

VHS Title Catalogue Number Release Date Episodes
NSPCC Children's T.V. Favourites Volume 1 90472 (then AHE 1009) 1990 Postman Pat's Thirsty Day, Playbox: Pink Piggy, Paddington Bear: Please Look after this Bear?, Fireman Sam: Kite, James the Cat: Friends, The Further Adventures of Noddy (1989): The Great Car Race, Mr. Men and Little Miss: Little Miss Naughty, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: Painting the Town Red, Superted and the Stolen Rocketship and Spot: Goodnight, Spot.
NSPCC Children's T.V. Favourites Volume 2 95882 (then AHE 1010) 1993 Postman Pat's Rainy Day, Pingu the King, Thomas the Tank Engine: Thomas and Gordon, Favourite Nursery Rhymes: Bow, Wow says the dog, the Wheels on the Bus and A Froggy Would a Wooing Go, Super Mario Goes to School, Paddington Bear Cleans Up, Spot's Birthday Party, Dino Babies and the Dragon, Fourways Farm: Godfrey Gets Stuck, Spider!: Spider in the Bath, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Lovesick Sonic, Noddy and the Naughty Tail, Starla and the Jewel Riders: Song of the Rainbow, Bump's Upside Down Friend, Excerpt from Walt Disney's The Reluctant Dragon, Tots TV: Looking in the Mirror, Nellie The Elephant Rescues Mrs Maple's Moggy, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Old Switcheroo, Potamus Park: X Marks the Spot, Junglies: Albert's Tooth, Rosie and Jim: School and Superted and the Great Mine Rescue.

See also [edit]

Portal icon United Kingdom portal

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Media Centre – FAQs". NSPCC. Retrieved 2009-01-14. 
  2. ^ a b "About the NSPCC". Retrieved 2007-09-19. 
  3. ^ The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC), Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, Volume V, Chapter 1
  4. ^ "THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN". Charity Commission. Retrieved 17 April 2013. 
  5. ^ "NSPCC direct services". NSPCC. Retrieved 17 April 2013. 
  6. ^ "Jimmy Savile abuse cases: the detailed data". Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2013. 
  7. ^ "NSPCC warns 200,000 babies at risk of abuse". BBC News. Retrieved 17 April 2013. 
  8. ^ "PRCA Awards 2012". PRCA. Retrieved 17 April 2013. 
  9. ^ Butler, Patrick (2007-08-01). "Full Stop Missing". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-11-27. 
  10. ^ "Mailshock". London: The Guardian. 2006-10-03. Retrieved 2007-09-19. 
  11. ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 2 Mar 2006 (pt 18). Publications.parliament.uk (2006-03-02). Retrieved on 2011-11-21.
  12. ^ "Protesters enter charity offices". BBC. 2004-11-15. Retrieved 2007-09-19. 
  13. ^ "It Needs To Be Stopped. Full Stop". The Guardian. 2002-02-19. Retrieved 2007-09-19. 
  14. ^ Why this NSPCC advert is harmful to children. Guardian. Retrieved on 2011-11-21.
  15. ^ A Stranger Danger. Sirc.org. Retrieved on 2011-11-21.
  16. ^ Furedi, Frank (2004-01-19). "A danger to the nation's children". Spiked. Retrieved 2007-09-19. 
  17. ^ a b John Carvel (2000-12-09). "NSPCC hits back over cash". The Guardian (London). 
  18. ^ "Will Aid". Web.archive.org. 2009-04-20. Retrieved 2011-12-09. 
  19. ^ Jeni Harvey. "Satanic abuse: The truth at last". 
  20. ^ "When Satan Came To Town". BBC. 2006-01-11.
  21. ^ Cummings, Dolan (2006-01-12). "A full stop to the Satanic panic". Spiked. Retrieved 2007-09-19. 

Bibliography [edit]

  • Susan J. Creighton, "Organized Abuse: The NSPCC Experience", Child Abuse Review; Volume 2, Issue 4 (1993), p. 232–242.
  • Jean La Fontaine, The Extent and Nature of Organised and Ritual Sexual Abuse of Children, HMSO, 1994.
  • Jean La Fontaine, Speak of the Devil: Tales of Satanic Abuse in Contemporary England, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  • Department of Health and Social Services Inspectorate. North West Region, Inspection of child protection services in Rochdale, Greater Manchester: Social Services Inspectorate. North West Region, 1990, viii, 33pp.
  • Clyde, James J., The report of the inquiry into the removal of children from Orkney in February 1991, Edinburgh: HMSO, 1992, xiv, 363pp. ISBN 0-10-219593-5.
  • Department of Health and Social Security and Welsh Office, Working Together: a guide to arrangements for inter-agency co-operation for the protection of children from abuse, London: HMSO, 1988, 72pp. ISBN 0-11-321154-6.
  • Eleanor Stobart, Child abuse linked to accusations of "possession" and "witchcraft", Nottingham: Department for Education and Skills, 2006.

External links [edit]

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Society_for_the_Prevention_of_Cruelty_to_Children&oldid=553554774"