Opinion

We all have a role to play when it comes to protecting children

Recent child protection figures show a marked reduction in child protection referrals over the present lockdown period, meaning that vulnerable children who should have been brought to the attention of the child protection system in Northern Ireland may not have been identified 
Recent child protection figures show a marked reduction in child protection referrals over the present lockdown period, meaning that vulnerable children who should have been brought to the attention of the child protection system in Northern Ireland may n Recent child protection figures show a marked reduction in child protection referrals over the present lockdown period, meaning that vulnerable children who should have been brought to the attention of the child protection system in Northern Ireland may not have been identified 

IN the year since the first lockdown began, we have all faced challenges none of us could have predicted or imagined. As coronavirus changed our world, we knew that children and young people across Northern Ireland would need our support more than ever before because they would be spending more time at home and behind closed doors where, unfortunately, there is a greater risk of abuse or neglect for some. In fact, recent child protection figures show a marked reduction in child protection referrals over the present lockdown period, meaning that vulnerable children who should have been brought to the attention of the child protection system in Northern Ireland may not have been identified.

One of the many ways NSPCC Northern Ireland is working to help these children is with our campaign Together, in partnership with the Department of Health for Northern Ireland, which is raising community awareness about the increased risks to children and encouraging members of the public to report any concerns they may have. We are also asking anyone with a concern about a child or a young person to share their concerns, without delay, by contacting their local Health and Social Care Trust Gateway Service.  Contact details are available on each Health & Social Care Trust’s website or at NI Direct www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/gateway-service-teams-contact-details. You can also contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 or help@nspcc.org.uk and in case of emergencies, the PSNI on 999 or 101. Children who have concerns for themselves or other children and young people can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or www.childline.org.uk.  Parents and carers in the community can also access safeguarding and family support services information at www.familysupportni.gov.uk.

Additionally NSPCC  has produced  a 15 minute online training course called ‘It’s Your Call’, which is aimed at workers who regularly visit people’s homes, such as postal workers, gas engineers, taxi drivers, tradespeople and delivery drivers. They are being encouraged by the campaign to take up this safeguarding training to help protect children from abuse and neglect during the lockdown. The training will be free of charge until the end of April. This course will help workers to recognise the signs of possible child abuse and neglect, report concerns either through their work channels, social services, the NSPCC helpline or, if the concern is urgent, the police. They will also receive expert advice and support, which is especially important for those who may have already witnessed signs of child abuse and/or neglect.

Although restrictions are now starting to relax and some children are returning to school, we know the impact of the pandemic isn’t over and we still need to be ready to support them. 

But if we work together, we can all get through this. Together, we can be here for children – this year and beyond.  

So join us today. Together, we’re here for children. 

Margaret Gallagher


Head of Local Campaigns Service


NSPCC Northern Ireland

Kowtowing to the scandalous British monarchy is cringeworthy and bewildering

I HAVE no doubt there is something seriously wrong with the English mentality.


We can’t switch on our TV or radio or lift a newspaper without being bored by yet more news of their unelected monarchy.


Why do they have this obsession, this need to bow and knee bend to a family that has a neverending scandalous history?

I can only think they have been unable to shake off this inferiority complex after centuries of conquest and invasions by the Romans, the Danes, the Normans and others. 

Of course it is not only the British who are burdened by this affliction.

Here, is it not cringeworthy to see Arlene Foster and others, bend almost in half, as they pay homage to some fifth-rate royal on a ribbon-cutting exercise? 

Surely it’s time our near neighbours ditched this millstone and moved into the new century. 

Then again, I won’t hold my breath, are these not the same people who voted for Boris Johnson and Brexit.

J Diamond


Coleraine

Abortion is not simply a women’s issue

CITING the “newly sensitised concerns about male violence towards women”, as an excuse, your correspondent, Fionnuala O Connor, attempts to promote and justify the evil of abortion on sexist grounds (The Irish News March 23). 

The brutal crime of abortion destroys both boys and girls. It is an act of unspeakable violence against infants of both genders. It is, therefore, emphatically not a ‘woman’s issue’, since the lives of both male and female children are, to use the abortionist euphemism, ‘terminated’.  

Also, the children who are killed have fathers as well as mothers. So it is not merely only ‘a woman’s right to choose’. 

“You do not have to have an abortion” opines Ms O Connor. True. The same logic can also be applied to  opposition to slavery. You don’t agree with slavery? Then don’t traffick, buy, or keep slaves.  

Abortion is the deliberate and intentional destruction of the life of a boy or girl in his and her mother’s womb. It is an an act of barbarism as much as enslaving. It is worse because it kills. 

Both women and men oppose the injustice and wickedness of abortion.


We will never be silenced against it and prevented from persuading, both women and men, that there is a better way than killing their unborn child.  

Fr Patrick McCafferty


Corpus Christi Parish


Belfast 12

Rooting for Personchester United FC

THE item on March 20 about the Kerryman newspaper and

the call for an end to gender titles such as chairman reminded me that

it was suggested that it be changed to chair person.  If we changed every

word that had ‘man’ in it there would be a football team called Personchester

United.

Jack Campbell


Glengormley