“I have seen messages on his WhatsApp that are terrifying, that they will beat him, that they will kill him,” said the mother of a troubled teenager. “My son told me that they beat him in class, in the gym and in the corridors of the center where he studies. That they insult him, send him audio and photos with faces in his face “adhesive”one boy’s mother warned. “My daughter wrote me a message telling me she doesn’t want to live. I told her father to talk to her,” one girl’s mother complained. This is the reality faced by psychologists who answer the Anar telephone and chat for families and schools, to whom adults can turn for advice on minors at risk. Between 2019 and 2024 they dealt with 59,616 cases: six out of ten involved violence, from abuse (25%) to sexual violence (9%) or abandonment (8%). One in 10 warned against sexist violence.
They are anonymized testimonies, so that they cannot be identified, because calls to 900 20 20 10, which are answered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, are confidential. But they allow us to outline a reality that usually remains hidden. A couple of data points from the study presented Tuesday help do that.
In six out of ten cases, the problems for which adults ask Anar for help occur daily and have recurred for more than a year. In 67% the severity is high. In more than half, so is the urgency with which action is needed. In fact, on the most complicated occasions, 16,885 emergency interventions were carried out, for example by the police or social and child protection services (the same case can be counted twice, because it was necessary to contact the police and social services).
“If we add not only the line for adults, but also those that serve children, we arrive at an average of 20 emergency interventions per day,” says Diana Díaz, director of the helplines of this organization, who for the report focused on minors and callers, but not on perpetrators of violence. From 2019 to 2024, serving only the adult line, 209,290 reports were made to children’s resources across the country.
“We are seeing cases of extremely high severity,” Díaz continues. He underlines that the role of adults is fundamental. For this reason, the foundation is now analyzing the data from this line exclusively for the first time, without combining it with that of minors. “Without adults it would be impossible to bring to light many risk situations, or help a minor in the early stages of life. At what age can children start calling? Starting from 10 years old. An adult must necessarily do it earlier,” he says.
For this reason, the foundation pays particular attention to children under 10 years old, the age group in which the greatest “situations of risk and vulnerability” occur, according to Díaz. In the last six years, 20,320 cases have been treated. The majority are men, with an average age of six, who grow up in single-parent families (half), mainly with their mother.
Seven out of ten cases consulted were due to violence against minors, with a particular presence of abuse, abandonment, sexual assaults and gender violence. “It is important to strengthen early diagnosis, multidisciplinary response and access to therapeutic and legal resources,” says Benjamín Ballesteros, technical director of the foundation, as stated in a press release.
This is a fact that emerges from the study: despite the seriousness of the problem, three quarters of children under 10 do not receive psychological assistance. If all minors are analyzed, up to the age of 18, 69.1% do not receive or have received psychological treatment.
The director of the Anar toll-free number points out that only 20% of adults consult for mental health reasons. “This means that it is completely normal for there to be an emotional problem in a child. On the other hand, this is the main reason for the consultation when it is the child himself who calls,” he underlines. Among the problems identified in the minors’ environment are anxiety (10.8%), fear (9.6%) and sadness (9%).
“My niece has no friends and seems very depressed,” said one teenager’s maternal aunt. Even if they also call professionals who work in contact with minors, 83.2% of those who use these numbers are family members. And 78.2% are women. Mothers represent 57% of cases.
“What does a woman consult, especially the mother? For the well-being of the minor, above all, what she consults the most are situations of domestic violence, physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual assaults… and, even if less, mental health. And, in the latter, above all, behavioral problems, in cases where the minor exhibits violent behavior, are confronted with the rules and limits of the home”, adds Díaz. “Secondly, they also talk about suicidal behavior and so on.”
Men represent 21.8% of the cases treated. “Of these, the father represents 15.4%. The man focuses more on other problems that have to do with legal advice, separation, custody, visitation regime and the disappearance of minors, in particular elopements and parental abduction”, he continues. “The mother is more concerned about the well-being of the child and suffers it directly. The father is more reactive in the search, more visceral, he is more angry and when he seeks help it is because the problem has risen a little higher,” says Díaz.
The father of a preteen said: “I think my children are in danger. Their mother is a prostitute. I couldn’t put money in their account, because it doesn’t exist. I’m sick, I take drugs, because I don’t know if my children are okay.”
The report, in addition to being quantitative, also has a qualitative part after studying more than 300 cases. “In more than half of the people analyzed there are mental health problems in the environment,” underlines Díaz. “Most importantly, anxiety, fear, sadness and even addictions.”
Regarding the profile of children at risk for whom adults call, 55% are females and 44.9% males. The vast majority live with a family member, especially with both parents. “Families are the first reference model, what heals in life is a healthy bond, care, love, respect… A climate free from any violence,” says Díaz. “If there are problems, which can occur in all family environments, we need to put ourselves in the hands of professionals as soon as possible.”
