What the Hotline Can Do

• The Hotline counselors can help you with your child's problem behaviors.
• The Hotline counselor can help identify the situations that trigger your child's problem behavior, and then discuss what you have done in the past that has worked and not worked, and help you choose other ways of responding. They can also recommend parenting books, suggest ways to improve communication with children, and discuss how to discipline in a fair manner.
• The Hotline counselors can help you understand what normal behavior is at different stages of your child's development. For example, babies sometimes cry for no reason, even after you have done all you can to comfort them. Two- and three-year-olds have tantrums. These things, while frustrating to deal with, don't mean you are a bad parent.
• The Hotline counselors can provide non-judgmental emotional support.
• When you are feeling isolated or overwhelmed, Childhelp's hotline counselors can provide a safe outlet for your stress and anger.
• The Hotline counselors can refer you to local groups who may provide additional help.
• The professional Hotline counselor utilizes a database of thousands of emergency, social service and support resources. Using your zip code, he or she can look up local parenting groups, agencies that provide counseling, domestic violence shelters, legal referrals, and the telephone number to report abuse in your area. The Hotline counselor can also suggest what to do next if you have already made an abuse report and the child is still in danger.
• Our hotline counselors can listen to you. They won't blame you.
• If you aren't ready to tell on someone but you want to talk about your feelings and what is happening to you, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453), then press 1 to talk to a hotline counselor. Your call is anonymous. (That means that the hotline counselors don't know who you are unless you tell them.) Sometimes it is easier to tell your problems to someone you don't know.
• Lots of kids have mixed feelings about the person who is hurting them, especially if they loved and trusted that person. You may be afraid of the person who is hurting you, and are "scared silent."
• The Childhelp hotline counselors can explain different things that you can do. They can also tell you what might happen as a result of each one.
• Our hotline counselors can answer your questions.  For example, if you think a friend is being abused but you aren't sure and you are nervous about saying anything to him or her, there are some signs you can look for that can be clues. Hotline counselors can also help you figure out what to say to your friend if you think he or she has a problem.
• Our hotline counselors can help you make a child abuse report.
• When you call, the hotline counselor may ask you if you want to report the abuse to the people who can check into what is happening. They can give you the phone number for the reporting agency—usually child protective services—in your community. Our counselors can also stay on the phone line and make a 3-way call if you are nervous about doing it alone.
• The hotline counselor can tell you where you can get more help—right where you live.
• If you need additional, ongoing help, our hotline counselors can give you phone numbers of groups near you that can help. All they need is your zip code to look up the organizations on the computer.