NSPCC

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The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a UK charity specialising in child protection and the prevention of cruelty to children. It has been active since 1884 and was founded as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty and Better Protection of Children by Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts. Other co-founders included Benjamin Waugh, Herbert Spencer, and Nathan Marcus Adler.

It has been offered royal patronage but has always declined in order to keep its identity clearly separate from the similarly named RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

The NSPCC's administrative headquarters are in Shoreditch, London. It employs over 2000 people and in 2005 had a total income of £112 million, of which £84.5 million (76%) was spent on activities to end cruelty to children compared to £42 million in 1997/98 [1]. In 2005 it was announced that the NSPCC would be taking over the smaller charity ChildLine, a move which became official from 1 February 2006.

Since 2002, the Chairman of the NSPCC has been Sir Christopher Kelly KCB, formerly a senior Civil Servant.

Activities

• Community-based teams and projects throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Free, 24-hour Child Protection Helpline
• Public education campaigns,
• Parliamentary campaigns.
• Child protection training and advice for organisations involved in the care, protection and education of children.
• Research into the nature and effects of child abuse.
• Information resources on child protection and related topics for professionals, the press and the general public.
• Fundraising through individual and corporate supporters,
• Involvement of celebrities, including Jonny Wilkinson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and others in support of the charity's causes.

Campaigning and controversy

The NSPCC's campaigning role has often led it into controversial areas. For example, the charity supports mandatory sex education for all children, and has argued against the view that marriage is necessarily the best way to create stable relationships [2]. In 2000 the NSPCC supported the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 which lowered the age of consent for same sex relationships to 16, in line with that for heterosexuals [3].

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 [4] and by the fathers' rights group Fathers4Justice. Indeed, in 2004 the London headquarters of NSPCC were briefly invaded and occupied by Fathers4Justice supporters.

Values

The NSPCC's current 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

See also

• Internet Watch Foundation
• The Children's Society

External links

• NSPCC Homepage
• Charity commission registration
• Internet Watch Foundation