New Childline service for homeless children

As the ISPCC launches a new Childline service dedicated to providing emotional support to homeless children, it has highlighted the type of worries for children who find themselves in temporary accommodation - including the fear that Santa won’t find them in their new accommodation.
In the past year, in Meath, approximately five families were forced into emergency accommodation each week.
Speaking at the launch of the new service, ISPCC CEO Grainia Long said, “Losing a home is traumatic at any age, but for a child it can be extremely destabilising.
“Childline is a national listening service, and our volunteers have lots of experience in supporting children through difficult times. That’s why we are launching a service that will give homeless children the opportunity to talk.
Some children miss toys that have been packed away, others worry whether Santa will find them in their new home, and some worry about noise and new environments. Many children report feeling uncertain about the future, and are often worried about their parents and siblings as they see the level of stress they are under.
The aim of a Childline service for children experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness is to give them the opportunity to talk about how it is impacting on them, to seek support and enable children to build their resilience and their ability to cope with a highly destabilising period in their lives”.
The service will provide non-directive listening; it is intended to complement child and family support services provided by other agencies and is not an alternative to one-to-one support, which will remain a key requirement for families living in temporary accommodation. The new service is free of charge and available to children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness from 10am to 4am daily.