At the launch of its Turning Point for Children campaign on Monday, the charity stressed the important role that early years workers have to play in spotting signs of child abuse. The NSPCC said there had been a rise in the number of babies killed over the past five years and that babies were now five times more likely to be killed than any other age group.
It said that severe physical abuse was also 120 times more common for babies than for children aged five to 13, with the death rate from such abuse ten times higher than for children aged between one and five.
Three advertisements for the Turning Point campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi point up that children are most likely to be killed at home. Photographs depict places that could be a murder scene - 'The Hallway', 'The Bedroom'
and 'The Stairs' (pictured).
Meanwhile a MORI poll of 1,002 adults published to coincide with the campaign launch found that 70 per cent believe ending child abuse in Britain is more important than other current issues including 'committing British Forces to war against Iraq', 'joining the Euro' or 'banning fox hunting'.
Baroness Walmsley, a spokeswoman on education at the House of Lords and an NSPCC parliamentary ambassador, calling for greater legal support for childcarers, said, 'Childcare professionals need the law to back them up when they try to show parents how dangerous it can be to hit their children and how they can instil discipline so much more effectively in other ways, making both parent and child feel better.'
For a free booklet on the NSPCC campaign, which includes how childcarers can become involved, send an A4 SAE with two first class stamps, to NSPCC Publications and Information Unit, 42 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3NH.
