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Abuse and suicide: Desperate children and young people call the Children's Telephone at night | India | DR On average, Børnetelefonen has seven conversations every night during their new extended opening hours between 02 and 07. By a 12-year-old boy who has been raped by his father. A 17-year-old sitting with a knife and in detail describes how he plans to take his life. An 11-year-old girl who has fled home in the middle of the night because she is afraid of her father taking drugs. For half a year has been open all hours. In total, the advisers have had 1,290 conversations during the new extended opening hours between 02 and 07, it shows their own statement. This corresponds to an average of seven conversations each night. The conversations can take place via text messages or phone calls. And these are serious things that the children and young people approach. In fact, there is an average of one conversation every night between 02 and 07, which is about suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts. - We can see that the proportion of the very serious conversations - such as suicidal thoughts and - is twice as high at night, says Rasmus Kjeldahl, director of Børns Vilkår, which runs .Børnetelefonen is a counseling service for children who have difficulty. Here they can anonymously call an adult counselor who has a background from working with children and young people. The children's telephone has existed since 1987 and is open every day all year round. The children's telephone has the six-digit telephone number 116 111. It is free and anonymous to call. He says that it is not unusual for counselors to help children and young people get hold of the police, an ambulance or other authorities. Simply because they are in danger. - We have seen several examples of being a vital line at night, he says. Anne Marie Villumsen, chief analyst at the National Research and Analysis Center for Welfare, also believes that the figures from the first six months with 24 hours a day shows that there is a need for a place where children can get help at night. that they have someone to reach out to, she says.Here you can see examples of some of the inquiries the Child Phone has received at night.One of those who responds to calls and chat messages at night is Hassan Sabri.He can not avoid to be touched when he thinks of some of the conversations he's had the last six months while most of us slept.- There's an anxiety. A desperation that can be heard in some of these children and young people's voices, which hits me and the other counselors deeply, he says. His primary task is to listen. To show it and love that these children and young people for some reason do not find in their parents or other adults in their lives, he explains. - It is about making them feel seen, heard and understood, he says .When children and young people make contact, they are. Hassan Sabri and his colleagues can therefore only send the police and ambulance to them if they have given permission. Here you can see more examples of some of the inquiries that Børnetelefonen has received at night. According to Rasmus Kjeldahl, some children and young people by calling the more official authorities when they are in a crisis situation and may have hurt themselves or been exposed to a .Maybe because they have experienced not feeling understood before, or because they are in doubt about what happens if they call the police or an ambulance.- There are some children and young people who need to first turn with an adult, what the right strategy is and what their options really are for help, he says. The plan is to continue to be open 24 hours a day, and that pleases Anne Marie Villumsen. She emphasizes that it is that children and young people are not met by an answering machine when they have had the courage to reach out for help. know from some of the more serious cases of neglect, where children and young people have tried to reach out, for example, in relation to violence and that if they are not heard and met, then they withdraw, and then it is actually not certain that they will bring it up again before they become adults, she says.••