You can help a child
like Sam* catch up in
school so they can hope
for a brighter future
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"I shouldn't have gone to school that day.
If I'd been home, mum would've been ok and we'd still be together."
- Sam, 10-years-old.

Abuse and neglect are never a child’s fault. Children like Sam suffer so deeply when the adults in their life are unable to give them the care they need. Often a child will be so overwhelmed with guilt and regret that they struggle to focus on learning and social interactions in school.

Your crucial support can give children like Sam access to the specialist counselling they so desperately need to help process their grief, and understand that none of this is their fault, as well as get the vital learning support they need to achieve their potential.

✓ One-Off

Monthly

$2,500 can support a Barnardos Breakfast Club to provide children with extra learning support and a nutritious meal before school

$1,000

$2,500

$3,800

Other Amount

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Sam feels like his whole world has been torn apart

For as long as he can remember, Sam had to look after his mum. But when his desperate call for an ambulance led to them being split up, Sam’s whole world was torn apart.

Like so many children who have experienced abuse and neglect, Sam blames himself.

"I wish I had done more to help my mum. Maybe we would still be together if I had." - Sam, 10-years-old.

You see Sam's mum Frieda* battled with severe mental illness, as a result of domestic violence. The abuse started on her honeymoon, and never stopped. After Sam was born, his dad began spending more and more time out of the house, sometimes for weeks at a time. Until one day he left, and never came back. Crippled with anxiety and terrified that her husband would reappear, Freida would spend days unable to get out of bed because of depression.

So for as long as he could remember, Sam was left to fend for himself. He took to roaming the streets, searching for scraps of food to bring home so he and his mum wouldn't starve.

Sam tried desperately to hide how bad things were at home. He’d figured out that if people realised how sick his mum was, he would lose her. So aside from foraging for food, he would have to do the washing, put out the bins each week and make sure that their little unit was clean and tidy.

On one of the rare days Sam had actually gone to school, he came home to find his mum lying unconscious in her bedroom. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t wake her up. With his heart pounding in terror, Sam grabbed his mum’s phone and dialled 000, making a call that led to them being separated – tearing his whole world apart.

Sam's mum had accidentally overdosed on her medication. It was only when she woke up in hospital that she realised she couldn’t take care of Sam properly and made the painful decision to surrender him into foster care.

Sam’s worst fear has come true. He’s ‘lost’ his mum – and he thinks it’s all his fault.

While Sam has been placed in a caring, supportive foster home, and despite everyone’s best efforts, he desperately wants things to go back to the way they were.

“Sam is in a safe foster home, but he feels like he’s been kidnapped,” says Linda, Sam’s Barnardos case worker. “He isn’t coping at all, he’s frantic about his mum and feels crushed with guilt. Whenever his foster parents try to take him to school he just shuts down and cries. If we don’t act now, we could end up with a very angry, self-loathing young teenager on our hands.”

That's why we need your help! Sam urgently needs specialist counselling to help him understand that none of this is his fault. He also needs extra support to help him catch up at school - because he has missed so much staying home to take care of his mum.

Now Sam, struggling with guilt and trauma, has fallen so far behind his peers at school. If he doesn't get the urgent support he needs now, he may never have the chance to reach his potential. Donate now!

The harmful impact neglect has on a child's education

Studies have shown a strong link between childhood neglect and poor academic achievement.^

If a child misses just 1 day of school a week, that's 2 months of a whole school year. So when a child like Sam
misses more school than that to take care of his mum, his whole future is at risk!

“Sam is a very bright boy, but he’s fallen far behind his classmates at school.” – Linda, Barnardos Caseworker.

With the school year just starting, now is the time to provide these children with the extra support they need
to get back on track.

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Support the learning of a child in need

School uniforms and books

$1000 can supply children like Sam with school essentials like uniforms, shoes, textbooks and other learning materials.

Disadvantaged children are often bullied and harassed for looking 'different', which adds to their existing trauma and can result in falling even further behind academically.

Your compassionate gift can help children like Sam fit in at school and protect them from more emotional distress.

Breakfast Club

With $2,500, you can support a Barnardos Breakfast Club.

Breakfast Clubs provide children with extra learning support and a nutritious meal before school, so they can maintain focus throughout the day.

Your gift will help these children start each school day with confidence and energy, helping them thrive and flourish.

Homework Club

$3,800 can help fund a Barnardos Homework Club.

Homework Clubs focus on the development of numeracy and literacy for children that need extra support. They're also given healthy meals to help with their concentration and over-all development.

Your gift will mean that these children will have the learning, emotional and health support they need to give them the best possible chance of success at school.

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*Name changed and model used to protect privacy. ^Effects of child abuse and neglect for children and adolescents | Australian Institute of Family Studies (aifs.gov.au)