Wrong number for children in crisis

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
YOUNG children in crisis are being left hanging at the end of a dial tone while Australia’s biggest phone provider charges for counselling services.
National youth counselling service Kids Helpline believes children in regional areas such as the Yarra Ranges are significantly disadvantaged with phone provider Telstra making children pay for their calls to the crisis helpline.
The Federal Government has been providing free calls to adults accessing crisis services such as Lifeline, but Kids Helpline wants to see an industry wide agreement to also provide free calls to children in need.
Optus has provided free mobile calls for 10 years to Kids Helpline, and Vodafone dropped its call charges last year.
Almost 1000 Yarra Ranges youths have attempted to contact Kids Helpline over the past five years, with more than 70 per cent of calls coming from a mobile phone.
At least half of those calls would have been answered by Kids Helpline with at least 350 calls from mobile phones.
Kids Helpline CEO Tracy Adams said the national youth counselling service had continuously lobbied the government to ensure all mobile phone calls were free.
“We believe anyone in crisis should be able to access telephone counselling for free, be that Kids Helpline or any other provider,” she said.
Ms Adams said most children and young people were not in a position to pay for a call from their mobile when they were in crisis.
“We also know that more than two-in-five calls to Kids Helpline come from regional and remote areas, where Telstra is the largest provider.
“This means that children and young people living outside of metropolitan areas are significantly disadvantaged.
“Not only do they have limited choices in accessing youth appropriate services in their area, they also are expected to pay to contact the nation’s only youth specific telephone counselling service.”
Ms Adams said recent bipartisan government inquiries into suicide, bullying and cyber-safety had recommended that all crisis helplines should be affordable.
“We have had young people tell us their phone bills exceeded $100 a month because of contacting Kids Helpline,” she said.
The average telephone call to Kids Helpline lasts six minutes, however, counseling calls average 22 minutes, with some lasting over an hour.
Telstra spokesman James Howe said Telstra was aware of the issue.
“There is a free emergency service available through Lifeline, however we are currently looking at technology which will allow us to provide this service more broadly, including to Kids Helpline,” he said.
Young people aged five to 25 years old can speak to a counsellor about their problems with Australia’s only national childrens’ counselling service Kids Helpline online at www.kidshelp.com .au or 1800 55 1800.