Where to get help — beyond the emergency numbers

A child is not in immediate danger.

Nothing on the screen needs to happen in the next ten minutes.

And yet the parent is stuck.

This page is for that case.

It is not the page for an active emergency.

The numbers that route to emergency services are on emergency-hotlines.

It is also not the page for reporting illegal content to a hotline.

That path is on reporting-illegal-content.

This page is for the parent who has run out of the things they can do at the kitchen table.

The conversation did not land.

The screen-time configuration did not hold.

The school said “we’ll look into it” three weeks ago.

The page maps four kinds of help.

It covers what each one is for, what it costs, and what language it operates in.

It does not recommend one over another.

It points to the one that matches the case.

What this page is and is not

It is a directory with enough context to choose, not a verdict.

The services listed are the ones practitioner bodies and the research base describe as first-line contacts.

They cover non-emergency help with children’s digital lives.

Most are publicly funded. Several are run by charities.

The page does not list every service in every country.

It lists the ones that the practitioner literature names as the first contact for the kinds of problems this wiki covers.

Where a country has more than one entry, the list explains how they differ.

The page does not include paid services.

Paid advice is widely advertised but outside what the research base evaluates.

The page does not cover what to do in the first minutes of an acute incident.

That is the work of the trick database’s first-hour guides and the practitioner materials cited within them.

This page covers the layer after those first minutes have passed. It covers the layer where the parent needs an outside perspective.

What “stuck” looks like in practice

Practitioner bodies describe three patterns that bring a parent to an outside service [source: projuventute-rules] [source: klicksafe-handreichung-elternabende] [source: saferinternet-medien-in-der-familie].

The patterns are not exclusive. They often co-occur.

• A repeated broken rule. Limits set on the device or in the household are not sticking. The rule has been renegotiated at least once already. The parent has tried being clearer and being stricter. Neither has produced a durable change. The pattern is documented as a signal that the family needs a third party. They need someone to help reframe the conversation, not a new rule [source: projuventute-rules].

• Something the parent does not know how to assess. A message that might be grooming. A website that might be illegal. A friend’s behaviour that might be bullying or might be age-typical conflict. The parent can tell that they cannot tell what it is. The first task is to bring in someone whose job is to assess.

• Something the child will not discuss at home. The child has stopped talking about what happened online, or has never started. The child knows that the parent will be angry, will confiscate the device, or will call the other parent. The pattern is documented as the single most common reason children delay disclosure [source: www-nspcc-parental-controls] [source: klicksafe-handreichung-elternabende].

In each of these patterns the resource is not a setting.

The resource is another human, with training, who is not the parent and not the child.

Four kinds of help

Practitioner bodies in German-speaking and Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions describe the same four categories of help, sometimes under different names [source: jugendundmedien-ch-jugend-medien-6-10] [source: jugendundmedien-ch-jugend-medien-14plus] [source: saferinternet-medien-in-der-familie] [source: internetmatters-internet-matters-controls].

They are listed in the order in which they typically come into play.

1. Phone and chat helplines for the child

The first category is a service the child can call, text or chat with directly.

The parent is not on the line.

The service exists to hear the child’s account.

It does not tell the parent what was said. Anonymity is part of the design.

In German-speaking countries this is Pro Juventute 147 in Switzerland, Rat auf Draht (also 147) in Austria, and Nummer gegen Kummer — Kinder- und Jugendtelefon (116 111) in Germany [source: ch-pro-juventute-147] [source: at-rat-auf-draht] [source: de-nummergegenkummer-kinder].

In the United Kingdom it is Childline (0800 1111) [source: uk-childline].

In Australia it is Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800) [source: au-kids-helpline].

Most of these services also operate a parallel line for parents.

The parent lines are listed in the next category.

The reason for the separation is that the child helpline treats the child’s account as confidential.

A parent line does not, and uses a different mandate.

These services are the right first contact when the child has already said something is wrong.

The parent suspects the child may want to speak to someone who is not the parent.

They are also the right contact when the parent is unsure how serious the situation is and wants a professional to assess it from the child’s perspective.

2. Phone and chat helplines for the parent

The second category is the same shape, but with the parent as the caller.

The mandate is different: parent-side helplines help parents think through what they have seen, what their options are, and what their next step should be.

In Germany the Elterntelefon at Nummer gegen Kummer (0800 111 0550) operates alongside the child helpline on the same number family [source: de-nummergegenkummer-eltern].

In Switzerland Pro Juventute operates an Elternberatung alongside the 147 line for children [source: ch-pro-juventute-elternberatung].

In Austria Rat auf Draht takes parent calls on the same 147 number as children’s calls [source: at-rat-auf-draht].

In Australia Parentline (1300 30 1300) is the parallel parent-side service to Kids Helpline [source: au-parentline].

These services are the right first contact when the parent has something they want to think through.

They are also right when the parent would value a professional’s perspective.

They are not the right contact when the parent suspects a criminal act and wants the authorities involved.

The parent-side helplines are confidential and do not report forward.

3. Online family counselling and parent training

The third category is structured written or video-based counselling over weeks, not over one call.

It is appropriate when the issue is not an acute incident but a recurring pattern that the parent wants to change.

In Germany the bke-Elternberatung provides online counselling by the federal association of youth and family counselling offices [source: de-bke-elternberatung].

In Switzerland jugendundmedien.ch, the federal information platform, runs both a website with milestone guides and an advisory path that can route parents to a local service [source: jugendundmedien-ch-jugend-medien-6-10] [source: jugendundmedien-ch-jugend-medien-14plus].

The Austrian and Swiss Safer Internet Centres each maintain parent hubs with structured guidance material [source: saferinternet-zielgruppe-eltern] [source: saferinternet-medien-in-der-familie].

These are not counselling but are the practitioner-recommended starting point for parents who want orientation before deciding whether to bring in a counsellor [source: saferinternet-technischer-kinderschutz].

In the UK the practitioner hub is Internet Matters [source: internetmatters-internet-matters-controls].

In Australia the eSafety Commissioner maintains a parent hub [source: esafety-resources].

NSPCC’s Parental controls guidance is the UK practitioner reference for the question of whether and how to configure controls [source: www-nspcc-parental-controls].

4. Specialist services for specific incidents

The fourth category is services that exist to handle a specific type of incident, not generic parental concerns.

In Germany the Hilfetelefon Sexueller Missbrauch (0800 22 55 530) exists for cases involving sexual violence, cybergrooming and abuse [source: de-hilfetelefon-missbrauch].

JUUUPORT is a peer-to-peer advice platform for adolescents facing cyberbullying, grooming and online scams. It is targeted at the young person as the primary caller, not the parent [source: de-juuuport].

In Austria the Internet Ombudsstelle is the first-party reporting and mediation office for illegal online content and online harassment. It can route reports to platform trust-and-safety teams and act as a trusted flagger [source: at-internet-ombudsstelle].

In Switzerland KOBIK / fedpol is the federal reporting point for illegal internet content, grooming and extortion. Reports are routed for review rather than responded to live [source: ch-fedpol-cybercrime].

In Germany the practitioner-recommended first contact for illegal content is jugendschutz.net, which maintains the hotline under the Joint Regulatory Authority mandate [source: jugendschutz-net-erste-hilfe].

The UK practitioner-recommended equivalent for adult callers worried about a child is the NSPCC Helpline (0808 800 5000) [source: uk-nspcc-helpline].

The US counterpart for crisis intervention and referral is Childhelp (1-800-422-4453) [source: us-childhelp-hotline].

The specialist services exist because the generic helplines do not have the authority to do what the specialists do.

That includes: take a forensic report, escalate a removal request, or open a file with the authorities.

What these services cost

The services listed above are predominantly free at the point of use.

• The German Nummer gegen Kummer lines, Hilfetelefon Sexueller Missbrauch and bke-Elternberatung are publicly funded. The JUUUPORT project is funded by the federal government and partners [source: de-nummergegenkummer-kinder] [source: de-nummergegenkummer-eltern] [source: de-bke-elternberatung] [source: de-hilfetelefon-missbrauch] [source: de-juuuport].

• The Swiss Pro Juventute services and the federal jugendundmedien.ch platform are publicly funded. KOBIK / fedpol is a federal agency [source: ch-pro-juventute-147] [source: ch-pro-juventute-elternberatung] [source: jugendundmedien-jum-home] [source: ch-fedpol-cybercrime].

• The Austrian Rat auf Draht is funded through the ORF (the Austrian public broadcaster) under the Kinder- und Jugendanwaltschaft framework. Saferinternet.at is funded through the federal ministry and EU grants. The Internet Ombudsstelle is operated by ISPA, the Austrian internet service providers’ association [source: at-rat-auf-draht] [source: saferinternet-zielgruppe-eltern] [source: at-internet-ombudsstelle].

• The UK Childline and NSPCC Helpline are free. NSPCC is a charity. Internet Matters is also a charity [source: uk-childline] [source: uk-nspcc-helpline] [source: internetmatters-internet-matters-controls].

• The Australian Kids Helpline and Parentline are free. yourtown (the operator of Kids Helpline) and the state-level Parentline operators are publicly funded. The eSafety Commissioner is a Commonwealth statutory office [source: au-kids-helpline] [source: au-parentline] [source: esafety-resources].

• The US Childhelp hotline is free. NSPCC-style charities in other jurisdictions operate similar models [source: us-childhelp-hotline].

The exception is structured family counselling beyond what the bke-Elternberatung and equivalents provide.

Long-term therapeutic work is outside what this wiki covers.

In which language the services operate

Language coverage is uneven across the inventory.

The German-speaking services operate primarily in German. Some offer English and additional languages on the helplines themselves (most offer multilingual support via interpretation).

The Anglo-Saxon services operate in English.

A parent who does not speak the country’s primary language should explicitly ask for the service’s interpretation offer when calling.

Anonymous helplines do not always volunteer it.

The European Commission’s Better Internet for Kids portal maintains a country-by-country directory of the national Safer Internet Centres and their helplines [source: eu-better-internet-for-kids].

For parents outside the countries listed above, the BIK portal is the entry point.

Where these services do not fit

There are moments when none of the services on this page is the right first contact.

The boundary is sharp.

A parent who hesitates at the boundary because the wiki did not draw it clearly has wasted the time the boundary is meant to save.

The boundary, in plain language:

• If a child is in immediate danger, the local emergency number comes first. The numbers that route to emergency services are on emergency-hotlines [source: itu-e114].

• If a child is being groomed, extorted, or otherwise targeted by an adult, the conversation at home is not enough. The reporting-illegal-content page and the reporting-paths page are the right first contact [source: jugendschutz-net-erste-hilfe].

• If a child has seen illegal content — sexual material involving minors, extremist content calling for violence — the reporting hotlines in the relevant country take the report. The family’s task is to keep the URL and the timestamp [source: jugendschutz-net-erste-hilfe].

The common feature of these cases is that the relationship between parent and child is not the resource that resolves them.

The resource is external.

The conversation at home comes after the external contact, not before it.

What this page does not do

It does not recommend one service over another.

The services are not in competition.

They have different mandates.

The list above describes which mandate fits which situation.

It does not list every helpline in every country.

It lists the ones the practitioner literature and the research base (RAW/research/l-practice-artefacts.md) describe as first-line contacts [source: eu-better-internet-for-kids].

Those jurisdictions have the most documented evidence: German-speaking Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.

Other jurisdictions are reachable through the BIK portal and through INHOPE for illegal-content reports.

It does not cover what to do if the first contact does not help.

That is the work of the next conversation, often between the parent and the same practitioner, often with a different person on the line.

It does not cover devices, settings, or technical controls.

Those are covered in the device-specific articles.

Sources

Each marker resolves to a stub under Wiki/sources/ with the URL, the retrieval date, and the licence.

• jugendschutz-net-erste-hilfe — jugendschutz.net, “Erste-Hilfe-Seite”. The German first-party hotline for illegal content [source: jugendschutz-net-erste-hilfe].
• klicksafe-handreichung-elternabende — klicksafe, “Handreichung Elternabende: Smartphones, Apps, mobiles Internet”. The German practitioner workshop manual; CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE [source: klicksafe-handreichung-elternabende].
• saferinternet-medien-in-der-familie — Saferinternet.at, “Medien in der Familie”. The Austrian practitioner family guide; CC BY-NC 3.0 AT [source: saferinternet-medien-in-der-familie].
• saferinternet-technischer-kinderschutz — Safer Internet Centre Austria, “Wie richte ich einen technischen Kinderschutz ein?”. The documented layered-defence guidance [source: saferinternet-technischer-kinderschutz].
• saferinternet-zielgruppe-eltern — Saferinternet.at parent hub. The Austrian first-stop for orientation [source: saferinternet-zielgruppe-eltern].
• projuventute-rules — Pro Juventute, “Digitale Medien: Regeln und Vereinbarungen”. The Swiss practitioner guidance on the relationship-versus-controls question [source: projuventute-rules].
• www-projuventute-rules — Pro Juventute, English / French / Italian entry point on the same guidance material [source: www-projuventute-rules].
• jugendundmedien-jum-home — jugendundmedien.ch. The Swiss federal information platform homepage [source: jugendundmedien-jum-home].
• jugendundmedien-ch-jugend-medien-6-10 — jugendundmedien.ch, “Kinder von 6 bis 10 Jahren”. The Swiss federal milestone guide for primary-school age [source: jugendundmedien-ch-jugend-medien-6-10].
• jugendundmedien-ch-jugend-medien-14plus — jugendundmedien.ch, “Jugendliche ab 14 Jahren”. The Swiss federal milestone guide for adolescents [source: jugendundmedien-ch-jugend-medien-14plus].
• ch-pro-juventute-147 — Pro Juventute, “147”. Swiss emergency counselling for children and young people, phone 147 [source: ch-pro-juventute-147].
• ch-pro-juventute-elternberatung — Pro Juventute, “Elternberatung”. Swiss parent-side advisory service [source: ch-pro-juventute-elternberatung].
• de-nummergegenkummer-kinder — Nummer gegen Kummer, “Kinder- und Jugendtelefon”. German anonymous helpline for children and young people, phone 116 111 [source: de-nummergegenkummer-kinder].
• de-nummergegenkummer-eltern — Nummer gegen Kummer, “Elterntelefon”. German anonymous helpline for parents, phone 0800 111 0550 [source: de-nummergegenkummer-eltern].
• de-bke-elternberatung — Bundeskonferenz für Erziehungsberatung, “bke-Elternberatung”. German online family counselling [source: de-bke-elternberatung].
• de-juuuport — JUUUPORT. German peer-to-peer advice for adolescents facing cyberbullying, grooming and online scams [source: de-juuuport].
• de-hilfetelefon-missbrauch — Bundesamt für Familie und zivilgesellschaftliche Aufgaben, “Hilfetelefon Sexueller Missbrauch”. German federal helpline for sexual violence and cybergrooming, phone 0800 22 55 530 [source: de-hilfetelefon-missbrauch].
• at-rat-auf-draht — Rat auf Draht / ORF. Austrian emergency phone and online counselling, phone 147 [source: at-rat-auf-draht].
• at-internet-ombudsstelle — Internet Ombudsstelle / ISPA. Austrian first-party reporting and mediation office [source: at-internet-ombudsstelle].
• eu-better-internet-for-kids — European Commission / Insafe, “Better Internet for Kids”. Pan-European directory of national Safer Internet Centres [source: eu-better-internet-for-kids].
• uk-childline — Childline / NSPCC. UK 24/7 helpline for children and young people, phone 0800 1111 [source: uk-childline].
• uk-nspcc-helpline — NSPCC Helpline. UK helpline for adults concerned about a child, phone 0808 800 5000 [source: uk-nspcc-helpline].
• internetmatters-internet-matters-controls — Internet Matters. UK practitioner hub for parental controls and family guidance [source: internetmatters-internet-matters-controls].
• www-nspcc-parental-controls — NSPCC, “Parental controls”. UK child-protection agency guidance [source: www-nspcc-parental-controls].
• esafety-resources — eSafety Commissioner, “Parent resources”. Australian government parent hub [source: esafety-resources].
• au-kids-helpline — Kids Helpline / yourtown. Australian 24/7 counselling for ages 5 to 25, phone 1800 55 1800 [source: au-kids-helpline].
• au-parentline — Parentline Australia. Australian state-based counselling and support for parents and carers [source: au-parentline].
• us-childhelp-hotline — Childhelp. US national child abuse hotline, phone and text 1-800-422-4453 [source: us-childhelp-hotline].