From
their website:
"Brother
Paul Smith, Chairman of BoysTown Family Services, realised the need for
preventive measures to give early help and support to children and young
people before and when their needs become acute. As a result Kids Help
Line was founded in 1991. Kids Help Line is primarily funded
from the revenue-raising activities of BoysTown Family Care through its
lotteries. It is also supported by corporate sponsorship, through
individual donations, fundraising events, trusts and government funding."
"Kids Help
Line (KHL) is a national telephone counselling service for 5 to 18 year
old young Australians. Over 25,000 calls a week are made on the freecall
number, of which Kids Help Line answers one-third. The service began in
Queensland in 1991 and progressively extended to other States and Territories,
becoming a national service with its launch in New South Wales in May 1993."
Information
Source: Kids Help Line
Date &
time: 14:00 15/09/01 Updated: 1/02/02
Message
Home Register
The Message
Home Register is a service operated by Kids Help Line to assist parents
or caregivers and missing children to make contact with each other."
“The
Message Home Register aims to promote the well-being of young people and
their families by assisting them to stay in contact with each other,”
explained Kids Help Line spokesperson, Kim Litchfield in a Media
Release.
Two-thirds of
the 30,000 people reported missing each year are younger than 18 years.
99.5% are found, most within hours. However one-third go missing more than
once because the issues triggering the missing incident have not been resolved.
Those issues are diverse and may involve relationship difficulties, bullying/abuse,
mental health issues or the inability to cope with a myriad of other social
problems. The impact on the missing person and the families left behind
is devastating. Strategies are needed to rebuild the bridge between missing
youth and the family they have left behind; to encourage communication,
reconciliation where appropriate and empower young people to take control
of their problems and seek resolution.
The Message
Home Register is a service operated by Kids Help Line (KHL) to assist parents
or caregivers and missing children to make contact with each other.
The Message
Home Register aims to promote the well-being of young people and their
families by assisting them to more effectively manage their own lives and
has the following
objectives:
- Promote
contact between children and young people, their family members and social
supports;
- Encourage
safe reunification of families;
- Minimise
time away from supportive social environments;
- Reduce risk
of opportunistic criminal offences; and
- Minimise
exposure to destructive lifestyle choices.
How does
the Message Home Register Work?
When a parent
or young person contacts a counsellor at KHL, and the circumstances are
appropriate, the counsellor will explain the Message Home Register as a
possible option to maintain contact with family members. If the caller
chooses to participate, background information is provided which includes
name, age and contact details and is confidential. The caller then provides
a message to be passed to the intended family member. This information
is logged on the Register. The message is passed to the intended family
member if they make contact with KHL. Messages are only kept for the purpose
of connecting an estranged child with their family. The parent is encouraged
to contact their nearest police station if they have serious concerns for
the safety and welfare of their missing child. The young person is encouraged
to let someone know (a family member, a trusted adult or the police), that
they are safe and well. Counselling is also provided.
Information
Source: Kids Help Line
Date &
time: 14:08 15th September, 2001 Updated: 01/02/02
Kids Help
Line
Work with
Missing Person Agencies
The national
telephone counselling service provider, Kids Help Line (KHL), joined the
National Advisory Committee on Missing Persons to help address the high
incidence of teenage runaways.
Kids Help Line
(KHL) was one of 90 agencies and almost 300 family and friends of missing
people consulted by the ABCI’s National Missing Persons Unit (NMPU) last
year during the preparation of an Australian first research study, ‘Missing
People: Issues for the Australian Community.’ The research, conducted by
Dr Monika Henderson and Mr Peter Henderson on behalf of the NMPU, found
that more than half (55%) of the 30,000 people who are reported missing
in Australia each year are aged under 18 and that one third of these have
been reported missing before. KHL’s Director of Counselling, Ms Julie Clark,
said the research report prompted the organisation to accept the invitation
from the NMPU to become involved in the Committee’s work.
"When we
started going through our data with the NMPU researchers, we were surprised
about the high proportion of calls we were actually receiving from families
of young people who were missing and from children who had run away from
home," Ms Clark explained.
"The report
highlighted to us not only our duty of care in regards to these people,
but also the contribution we could make in terms providing non-identifiable
data and sharing our knowledge with other agencies trying to address this
issue."
Ms Clark stressed
that in no way would KHL’s involvement with the National Advisory Committee
jeopardise the confidentiality offered to its callers. "Our callers
can remain anonymous if they wish and any information they provide our
counsellors remains completely confidential," she explained.
"All information
we provide the Committee will be non-identifiable. Our main aim is to use
our resources in a way that will identify significant trends and common
issues among our callers. We can then work in collaboration with other
Committee members to develop strategies and programs that will help young
people in conflict and prevent them from running away. "We also envisage
that we will be able to offer counselling services in cases where the Committee’s
other agencies feel there is a need for counselling assistance."
Kids Help Line
can be contacted on 1800-55-1800 and is a confidential, toll free telephone
counselling service available for five-18 year olds.
Information
Source: NMPU
Date: September
1999 Updated: 01/02/02
