REPORT ON THE SOS- PHONE LINE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE 0800 1 2222 (FREE LINE) 01.06.2008- 01.09.2008 
 
The free SOS phone line for children and young people (0800 1 2222) is the first of this kind in our country and it functions continuously for over 15 years as part of the First Children’s .

In the period of June 1st – September 1st, the SOS phone line registered 55 calls from children and young people, as well as the parents.

 The reasons for calling the SOS phone for children and young people for June, July and August can be classified in the following categories:

-         Violence and abuse (28% of the cases include abuse and violence). The child abuse was more often spotted in form of carelessness and neglect. The physical and/or emotional violence was present in almost all cases.

-         Family relations (60% of the cases include family issues and family relations problems). The problems regarded families with broken relations, such as divorced marriages and conflict situations which had followed. Their unsolved issues were transferred to the children in form of custody problems. On the other hand, we were contacted by parents who were unhappy about the way their cases were followed up by the interdisciplinary teams from the Centers for Social Care (the cases were usually related to family relation problems, custody problems and family violence and abuse). The family violence was noticed in almost 50% of the family relations problems.

-         Legal matter ( 22% of the cases include a need of legal advice and assistance)  

-         Institutional problems ( 26% of the cases include institutional problems). In the past period, we have noticed more frequent demands concerning dysfunctional institutions, particularly of those which are responsible for child protection such as the Social Center Services, the schools and the educational facilities/houses of correction/institutions for children with special needs.

-         Other categories. The reasons for calling the SOS phone line in general, can be placed into/include the following categories also: Financial help ( for medical care, clothing or school materials), school problems ( teacher-child relations) peer relations ( aggression in the interpersonal communication, and behavior problems), child/juvenile delinquency, psychosocial and physical health ( which especially concerned children being active or passive victims of violence), information on child questions ( more often about family violence and child abuse), street children and children with mental/physical disabilities having problems about their social integration.

In the undertaken procedures regarding the SOS cases, the Free SOS Service for Children and Young People within the First Children’s Embassy in the World Megjashi was cooperating with the Ombudsman, the Centers for Social Care and for certain cases the police, the courts and other institutions were alerted. Also, we had excellent communication with other NGOs on certain problems which seemed to demand their attention.