New campaign urges Dutch adults to spot child abuse sooner

Amber Alert Europe, a network linking police, governments and child-welfare organisations, has launched a campaign asking adults in regular contact with children to recognise signs of abuse before children run away from home.

The “Home Should Be Safe” campaign – Thuis hoort veilig te zijn – opens today, on International Missing Children’s Day, in 20 countries and 14 languages. Thousands of children disappear in Europe each year after fleeing unsafe situations at home, the organisation says, often with warning signs visible long before they leave.

The campaign is aimed at teachers, sports coaches, neighbours and healthcare workers, and highlights five things to watch for: sudden changes in behaviour, unexplained injuries, constant wariness, fear of going home, and difficulty expressing feelings.

“A missing child is often the end of a much longer story,” Frank Hoen, the network’s founder and chair, told broadcaster NOS. “A bruise on a child doesn’t automatically mean abuse. But when something doesn’t feel right, it’s important to trust that feeling.”

In the Netherlands, domestic abuse advice line Veilig Thuis received 136,000 reports last year, around half of them concerning child abuse. Nine in 10 of those reports came from professionals such as police, healthcare workers and teachers, with the remainder mostly from neighbours, family and friends.

The agency has flagged underreporting in some sectors. In February it warned that just 350 of last year’s complaints had come from nurses and post-maternity carers, despite a survey of 1,000 such workers in which one in four said they had seen indications of abuse or neglect.

Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US are among the participating countries. Police forces, governments and child-protection bodies are backing the rollout.

If you are worried about a child’s safety, you can contact Veilig Thuis — the Dutch advice and reporting line for domestic violence and child abuse — on 0800-2000 (free, 24/7).