To think children in need is out of touch?

[Tictocrobot]

It’s the idea that we should all be inspired by the tragic story of disadvantaged children. Sad music, celebrities visiting groups where disabled children are paraded so that all us at home feel thankful for our lot in life. We give £5 then thank our lucky stars and wash our hands of it.

I know that’s a sweeping statement but really? Disabled children aren’t tragic and why is it up to them to be inspiring?

Disabled children are people. They shouldn’t be marginalised. To only have an opportunity to go to an after school club because of a handout that could be removed at any time. The government should be making sure that all people can do all of the things.

I know, I know, budgets. But maybe just tax Amazon a bit more and stop scrimping at every turn.

In my county there is a waiting list of 400+ children to get a place at a SEN school. I have one child who I can sign up for music lessons, Cubs, swimming lessons, football club, drama club etc at the drop of a hat. I have another child who is not able to access any of those things.

I’ve gone off on a tangent. But I guess my main point is. Being disabled isn’t sad. It’s just another way of living. What is sad is the lack of funding and one night of celebrity culture and tear jerking videos isn’t going to solve that.

The one that gets me is 'young carer's'. The celebration of these children taking on enormous responsibilities way beyond their developmental age with often massive impacts on their own lives is galling. It should be a source of national shame that a child has to give their mum their insulin or look after a disabled sibling. Society and the state fails those children and should step up to give them their childhoods back.
I don't watch.
My kids do whatever dress up/non uniform that school do and we pay our pound. That's it.
We support charities in our own way and I don't need 'entertaining' for hours on end interspaced with a tear jerking story.

I can’t watch it anymore. I’ll stick with stand up to cancer.

I watch the peripheral stuff in the run up to it, on local news etc. Then I choose a couple of charities to give to directly. No way on earth will I donate to anything the BBC is involved in, but if they highlight a charity I want to support then that charity gets my money.

@therebeccariots

The one that gets me is 'young carer's'. The celebration of these children taking on enormous responsibilities way beyond their developmental age with often massive impacts on their own lives is galling. It should be a source of national shame that a child has to give their mum their insulin or look after a disabled sibling. Society and the state fails those children and should step up to give them their childhoods back. I don't watch. My kids do whatever dress up/non uniform that school do and we pay our pound. That's it. We support charities in our own way and I don't need 'entertaining' for hours on end interspaced with a tear jerking story.

Me too. How is this even acceptable.

I was a trustee for a charity for SEN children and the CIN funding was hopeless. They'd only fund a big glossy project that they could take ownership of and splash branding all over, they wouldn't cover costs of running the minibus so we could collect children to take them to exercise or to replace equipment which was broken during meltdowns.

If we wanted CIN funding we'd have to do a new session and it would only cover half the cost of that.

I give to charities directly.

I find it an awful festival of virtue signalling, yes.

The fact CiN gives money to Mermaids and Gendered Intelligence is a reason why I don't personally donate to CiN.

I have a partical and financial donation waiting to go to a local charity instead.

I agree OP. (Accidently pressed the wrong key and voted YABU) but you are so right.

The government should be making sure that all people can do all of the things.

They should. But they don’t. It’s shameful.

So Children in Need raises much needed money. I don’t watch it but donate and donate to various charities all through the year. We don’t all wash our hands of it.

@PiglingBlonde

I was a trustee for a charity for SEN children and the CIN funding was hopeless. They'd only fund a big glossy project that they could take ownership of and splash branding all over, they wouldn't cover costs of running the minibus so we could collect children to take them to exercise or to replace equipment which was broken during meltdowns.

If we wanted CIN funding we'd have to do a new session and it would only cover half the cost of that.

I give to charities directly.

This is interesting and co firms much of what I thought with such a massive organisation. I bet loads of money gets lost down the cracks of admin, advertising and waste. I'd much rather give to our local charities directly to help children.

I can’t stand the inspiration porn or white saviour syndrome, children in need and red nose day are both crap.

I cannot abide 'forced' charity giving
bad enough when it was one night now its a frigging month
would also like to know if the 'celebs' get paid and how much, and how much is actually given out to charities and not kept in the bank or spent on chief execs and the bloody bbc

www.sundaypost.com/fp/children-and-greed-charitys-average-salary-hits-42000/

They don’t just support disabled children. They do all kinds of things! Providing white goods for families in crisis, help to young homeless people, teen parents! loads.

@Tictocrobot

Another part of it that gets my goat, is that schools all dress up for CiN and talk about the poor disabled kids and what we can do. Meanwhile their poor disabled classmates are sitting RIGHT THERE wondering where it all went wrong.

My child's special school had dress up day for donations for children in need ,all the kids in the school are disabled and therefore in need I would rather donate directly to school ,cut out the middle man

@EgoSumFeminaNaturalis

I find it an awful festival of virtue signalling, yes.

The fact CiN gives money to Mermaids and Gendered Intelligence is a reason why I don't personally donate to CiN.

I have a partical and financial donation waiting to go to a local charity instead.

Agreed! Hell will freeze over before I donate to (or spend with) anyone supporting Mermaids or Gendered Intelligence. Also, it seems crazy to effectively donate to a middleman rather than directly to the charities. Not least because some of the money will go to paying the salaries at the "Middleman": 13 employees earning more than £60K each "The emoluments paid to the Chief Executive in the year were £137,917 (2019: £134,425)." "Trustees do not receive any remuneration or receive any other benefits for their roles as Trustees. Trustee expenditure includes the reimbursement of expenses incurred by Trustees while carrying out their duties for the Charity, primarily for travel expenses of Trustees not based in London to attend meetings. Expenses were paid in the period to a value of £5,989 to 5 trustees (2019: £5,955 to 5 trustees)."

Drains and radiators.

@Toddlerteaplease

I've never seen any evidence of where the money goes.

Neither have I and I have a severely disabled child .

One day a year is all they dedicate to disabled and ill children and all the able and healthy people pat themselves on their backs for feeling sad for 2 hours and donating £5. It's an idea made by healthy people to make healthy people feel better about themselves and their situation, while sick and disabled kids continue to suffer and die every day.

It's similar to the 'poverty porn' that comic relief creates. Send a celebrity to an orphanage or hospital in Uganda, show them crying, then fly them back home to their mansions so normal people donate more than they do.

My Dad has always had a dislike of these big charity days/evenings. He says that he thinks charity should be an everyday thing, not just something thought about on one or two days a year.

But he appreciates they do raise money and raise awareness. He just wishes that people who are financially able to would choose a charity or two to support year-round with £1-3 a month.

@Sowhatifiam

Children In Need doesn’t just support disabled children.

No, it also supports Mermaids. They'll never see another penny from me.

You can chose which causes to support or not support but to create a thread full of false accusations about a about one particular cause us very ugly.

If you don't support a cause just keep your money in your pocket.

So much absolute rubbish on here.

Not sure I understand the false accusation bit? Unless you’re referring to PP wondering where the money goes.

I agree that the state should properly fund services for children with additional needs. Sadly they don't. I attend a charity run project with my disabled child & it has been a total lifeline.

I'm sure for a lot of people disability is another way of living, but for my child with complex needs it is pretty tragic to be honest - the struggles he faces are horrendous & relentless

@Dazedandconfused28

I agree that the state should properly fund services for children with additional needs. Sadly they don't. I attend a charity run project with my disabled child & it has been a total lifeline.

I'm sure for a lot of people disability is another way of living, but for my child with complex needs it is pretty tragic to be honest - the struggles he faces are horrendous & relentless

I meant to say the charity I attend is funded by CiN

I'm not a fan of the BBC, but CIN isn't just about parading disabled children as some PP's have mentioned, it's also about children who are young carers for their adult parents and children who are from disadvantaged backgrounds. CIN have been a massive donator to the Salford Lads Club in previous years to enable young boys a place to go, make friends, have a hot meal if necessary and learn something and do sport.
There are plenty of other charities I support much more than CIN, but I can't see what harm there is in these people, families and charities putting themselves out there to get as much funding as possible to make their lives easier. Maybe this being out there encourages someone to reach out to a charity near them to get support that they necessarily wouldn't be entitled to through government funding.
If you don't like it - ignore and watch Netflix or Prime instead.