• INCREASE IN CALLS •
Child Helpline Chairperson‘s Report 2008

It is my pleasure to report on the Child Helpline Trust for the past year. It has very much been a steady-as-she-goes year that featured increased call numbers and rebuilding of our volunteer base. We are still getting more calls to our Helpline for preventative issues, but this year showed many more referrals to CYF for abuse and negligence, plus many more calls relating to family relationships and discipline issues.

On behalf of the Trust Board, I would like to thank our volunteers for their dedication and commitment. I would also like to thank Carolina Gnad for her work training and supervising our volunteers. Training volunteers increases the skills of those trained, who often go on to a career in related fields.

Fundraising is one of the many external things that we cannot control and we are grateful to all Trusts and individuals that have made donations towards our service. I’d like to thank all of these for their contributions, in particular, Markat Promotions for their outstanding fundraising campaign this year. Your sterling effort has contributed to effectively allow us to continue operations. I’d also like to acknowledge the contribution of our Service Contractor, the Ministry of Social Development’s Family & Community Services whose assistance is much appreciated.

I feel I should point out that, as a Trust, Child Helpline works extremely hard with the Your Day Trust, which I founded along with John Nichols, to raise money for Child Helpline & the Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind. We run an annual Wedding Show and give both organisations the takings from the door sales. Richard Caves is worth his weight in gold working long hours organising these. We must also thank the Hotel Grand Chancellor for their donation towards the running of the Show and the RNZFB for their work on the day of the Show.

We continue to get inquiries and requests for help from other countries through our website. This has helped immensely by letting children know there is a place they can go for help. Regrettably, this year has yet again shown how prevalent abuse is among sections of NZ society, how much education and training is needed, and how valuable services like ours are. Every intervention made is a life saved.

Finally, I would like to thank all the people I have worked with at Child Helpline; counsellors, Board, paid Staff and the people behind the scenes, our lawyer, Jeff Kenny, auditor, Greta Vink, and patron, Tim Barnett.

Anne Stubbersfield
Chairperson
CHILD HELPLINE TRUST