Summary
From 1 November 2026, Childline will begin recording calls to help keep children and young people safe, support safeguarding responsibilities and maintain a high-quality service. Your privacy remains important, and you do not need to share personal details beyond your first name and age. Recordings will be stored securely for 30 days and accessed only by authorised personnel, with information shared with relevant services only when necessary to protect a young person from harm. Call recording is not about checking up on you, but about making sure we can provide the best possible support. Your safety matters. Your voice matters. We’re here to listen.
Recording of Calls.
Here at Childline, keeping children and young people safe is our most important job. To help us with this, from 1st November 2026, Childline will start recording calls.
Why are we recording calls?
To ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people that contact us.
To support our safeguarding and child protection responsibilities.
To help with responding appropriately to any disclosures where we feel a young person might be in danger.
To support training and supervision of volunteers, ensuring that every young person that contacts us gets the same high-quality service from Childline.
Will my information be kept private?
We know that privacy is important. To keep our calls private, we only request your first name and age. You don’t need to share your last name, where you live or go to school, or any other personal details. We cannot see, track or trace your number. This will remain the same.
What If I share personal details?
- If a young person discloses to us that they are in danger or unsafe in any way, and provides us with additional personal details, we are responsible for reporting this to relevant services that can help. Depending on what’s going on, this could be the Gardaí or Tusla.
- With recording of calls, in the case of an emergency or a young person in danger, we won’t miss any important details that could help us to get support for them.
Privacy and Data Protection
- Recordings are handled in line with data protection legislation and organisational policies.
- Recordings can only be accessed by authorised personnel and will be used carefully and responsibly.
- Recordings are stored securely and retained for 30 days only.
- Confidentiality remains a core principle of Childline, with information shared only when there are safeguarding reasons to do so.
- Our privacy policy can be read here: https://www.childline.ie/privacy
What does this mean for me?
Recording calls isn’t about checking up on you. It’s about helping us to keep young people safe.
Your safety matters. Your voice matters. We’re here to listen.
Key takeaways
- From 1st November 2026, Childline will start recording calls.
- You have the choice of remaining anonymous during calls and chats
- Your call recording will be deleted after 30 days
- We do not have the ability to track or trace calls.
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