NSPCC

Every child deserves to grow up safe, loved and happy. Sadly, for some – like Rita Newberry, pictured – childhood memories are blighted by cruelty and neglect which, without the care and support from NSPCC, can leave scars that last a lifetime.

“From the age of six, I remember my mother going out drinking most nights, although we were really poor,” Rita recalls.

“She’d come home drunk and be sick and I’d have to put her to bed. She’d hit me all the time and even held a knife to my throat, threatening to kill me.

“Another time she smacked my head with a belt and blood spurted everywhere. I told the doctors I’d fallen because my mother asked me to.”

The impact on the young Rita was immense.

“Because of the trauma, I used to wet the bed. The bed itself was covered in bugs. I’d find them on my clothes and body on my way to school,” she says.

“I grew up very insecure, not feeling loved or liked but never told anyone what was happening at the time because I was scared.”

Rita’s story is heart