However, one non-profit organisation called the Childline Foundation believes children should be given the space to express themselves freely without fear of judgement.
“Children make up almost 30% of our population, so they should be allowed to speak out and be heard,” executive director Wong Poai Hong told FMT Lifestyle recently.
She recounted how a national helpline they set up in 2010 in partnership with the government, saw them fielding up to 15,000 calls every year. The helpline was active for five years.
“The calls were mostly children looking for someone to talk to because of depression or loneliness. We also received calls regarding child abuse, physical or mental. They need a confidential helpline to reach out if they need help,” Wong said.
She added that the pandemic years were the hardest, as more children than ever were subject to physical and sexual abuse, both in their homes and on the internet.
During that period, the foundation held multiple online programmes to educate parents and children on how to protect their data and privacy online.
She said that these days, it is common for children to send naked pictures of themselves to strangers, lured by rewards for the mobile games they play.
To that end, the foundation has formed a partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation UK to take down child sexual abuse materials that members of the public can report here.
Staying true to their goal of giving children a voice, the foundation also set up a “child council”. Members of the council are made up of previous participants of Childline’s campaigns, and help the foundation run some of their current programmes.
“We want to nurture them to be advocates for themselves. It also helps them to be more vocal in their neighbourhood,” Wong said of the child council members.
A previous star educational programme called “Stop Child Abuse & Raise Superheroes” also known as SCARS, helped equip children with the knowledge and practical skills they needed to prevent child abuse. It also taught them how to identify and report abuse.
Sitting in the play centre that Childline shares with NGOs Play Unlimited and Toy Libraries Malaysia, Wong shared that other than reselling the toys here to help raise funds for the foundation’s work, they also donate toys to Orang Asli villages and those from low-income communities. All the toys are donations from the public.
On Dec 10, the foundation distributed boxes of donated toys as part of their Big Toy Giveaway in the run-up to Christmas.
They also give toys as presents to children suffering from long-term illness in hospitals, providing them with something to play with other than their handphones.
Multiple play spaces are also in the process of being set up in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, for children in detention there.
As for the future, it is the organisation’s wish to restart the child’s helpline with the help of the Department of Child Development.
Wong also stressed the need for a central body to support NGOs that do advocacy work like them.
“We need a charity commission of sorts, because NGOs like us are always struggling to find funding and staff.”
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Childline Foundation
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