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'No-one beyond help' - Barnardo's | |
(about 7 hours later) | |
A campaign designed to change people's attitudes towards troubled youngsters has been launched by UK children's charity Barnardo's. | |
Double-page adverts are being placed in newspapers and a radio feature has been voiced by James Bond star Daniel Craig. | |
It comes as Barnardo's publishes a survey suggesting about a quarter of adults feel disruptive children are beyond help by the time they are 13. | |
Two-thirds of respondents said it was never too late to help young people. | |
But around a fifth of the 1,000 people questioned in the poll, conducted by NOP GfK, thought youngsters were beyond help by the age of 10. | |
Child 'underclass' | Child 'underclass' |
Barnardo's has worked with young people for more than 100 years, but says that children have never have been so widely dismissed. | |
We must not use that as an excuse to write off a generation Martin Narey, Barnardo's | We must not use that as an excuse to write off a generation Martin Narey, Barnardo's |
The charity said the advertisements feature the stories of troubled youngsters who might have alienated people but who it feels are worth supporting. | |
People are being asked to show they "believe" in children by sending Barnardo's a text message or by adding their names to a page on its website. | |
"Some children's behaviour is unacceptable and it has to be challenged," said Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey. | "Some children's behaviour is unacceptable and it has to be challenged," said Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey. |
"But we must not use that as an excuse to write off a generation." | |
he added that "the alternative is to dismiss an underclass of children who have nothing to lose and who face nothing more than permanent unemployment, non-achievement and almost inevitably a life of crime." | |
According to the survey results, the main threats to a happy childhood are: growing up without a father, being in care, teenage motherhood and being expelled from school. | According to the survey results, the main threats to a happy childhood are: growing up without a father, being in care, teenage motherhood and being expelled from school. |
Figures from the British Crime Survey indicate youth crime dropped by 39% between 1995 and 2005. | Figures from the British Crime Survey indicate youth crime dropped by 39% between 1995 and 2005. |
Two thirds of the respondents to the poll believe children had become more criminal over the period. |