About us

On 14 March the Government decreed a state of emergency and a lockdown of the entire population, which forced the ANAR Phoneline to close down. Given the urgent need to continue offering support to children and teenagers throughout Spain at what was such a difficult time for them, the real challenge was to allow them to continue contacting us from home while guaranteeing their confidentiality. In less than a week we managed to resolve the issue by using the ANAR Chat as a silent and secure channel for youngsters at risk. This gave us a way into their homes, to help them through times when no one else could help. ANAR thus became an essential service for Spanish society during the Covid-19 period.

Before lockdown ended, in the month of May, the Committee for Social and Economic Reconstruction of the Congress of Deputies asked the ANAR Foundation to appear before Congress. The wealth of data obtained during the period through the ANAR Chat, which allowed children and teenagers to call us from home in privacy, meant that our study Centre had access to privileged information in real time, which is why we were asked to offer recommendations regarding Children and Teenagers during the process of easing the lockdown and returning to normality.

In 2019 the Complutense University established an award for partner institutions. This allows each faculty to recognise what it sees as the best organisation for its students to complete their practical placements. In this first year of the award, the Psychology Faculty named the ANAR Foundation as “Best Organisation for Practical Placements for Psychology Students”, thanks to the multidisciplinary theoretical and practical training at the ANAR Phoneline, dealing with children and teenagers. The Complutense University has also established its Excellence Bursaries, allowing those students with the best academic record to complete practical placements at the ANAR Foundation. También la Universidad Complutense crea las Becas de Excelencia para que los alumnos con mejor expediente hagan sus prácticas en la Fundación ANAR.

This was the first longitudinal study into violence against children and teenagers to be drawn up in Spain. It analysed more than 25,000 cases of violence between 2009 and 2016. ANAR aimed through this study to highlight the very significant increase in violence against children in the country. The information proved highly significant in driving the establishment of the Comprehensive Act to Combat Violence against Children in Spain (the “LOPIVI”).

The Ministry of the Interior granted the ANAR Foundation the Silver Cross of the Order of Merit of the Civil Guard. The award was handed to the President of ANAR by the Director of the Civil Guard in recognition of the close working relationship between the two institutions since 1994. The ANAR Phoneline refers and acts in particularly serious and high-risk cases on a daily basis in collaboration with the Civil Guard.

True to its innovative nature, and in line with new technologies, the Foundation set up the ANAR Help Chat for children and teenagers, using the channel that youngsters themselves use to communicate. This allows the Foundation to reach out to them and provide a safe, confidential and professional forum where teenagers can communicate. The channel has proved particularly useful in detecting very serious cases of children and teenagers in situations of risk.

The President of the ANAR Foundation, Ms Silvia Moroder, received the 8th of March Accolade: “Star of the Region of Madrid” from the regional President, Ms Cristina Cifuentes. At the ceremony she expressed thanks for “the 47 years spent defending Children and Teenagers in both Spain and Latin America”.

The ANAR Foundation, aware as it is of the wealth of information derived from the requests for help received by the ANAR Phoneline/Chat, set up the Childhood and Adolescence Study Centre, to reflect the “voice of children and teenagers” back to society. One further aim of the ANAR Study Centre is for its studies and reports to lead to the adoption of the measures required to prevent the major problems facing youngsters in Spain.

The Government Office for Gender Violence, a body dependent on the Ministry of Health, Social Affairs and Equality, bestowed its “Menina Award” on the ANAR Foundation for its efforts “to achieve a society free of violence against women”. The ANAR President was handed the accolade by the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, at an event held at the Moncloa Palace to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The Deans of the Faculties of Psychology and the Deans of the Professional Associations of Psychologists throughout Spain bestowed the “José Luis Pinillos Award for Excellence and Innovation in Psychology” on the ANAR Foundation. The honour represented the greatest recognition in Spain of the excellent work performed by the ANAR Phoneline psychologists, through their working methods and innovation.

The Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality bestowed the 2015 National Social Volunteering Award on the ANAR Foundation. The accolade recognises its efforts through volunteering, for the benefit of children and teenagers who are at risk and unprotected. The award specifically recognises the high standard of professionalism among the ANAR volunteers, thanks to their 95 hours of high-level theoretical and practical training. This highly professional and specialised work is essential in order to be able to assist all children and teenagers who call the ANAR Phoneline.

Her Majesty Queen Leticia gave an audience to the Board of Trustees of the ANAR Foundation. Over the course of the Audience, the President explained the programmes undertaken by the Foundation, in both Spain and Latin America. Her Majesty showed an interest in the considerable impact that the ANAR Phoneline has in reaching out to all children and teenagers in Spain.

Marta Santos País, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, recognised the major achievements of the ANAR Phoneline for the benefit of Peruvian children: “This phoneline is hugely useful in providing assistance and heightening our analysis of the different dimensions of violence against children…” “The phoneline fulfils a fundamental role in helping to improve the structuring and coordination of the institutions that make up the protection system”.

The Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality awarded the President of the ANAR Foundation the Silver Cross in recognition of 44 years of efforts in Spain, and as the driver of the ANAR Programmes in Latin America, specifically: Peru, Colombia and Mexico.

In 2013 the Missing Children Europe Platform was founded, comprising all phonelines within the European Union providing support for missing and sexually exploited children, of which the ANAR Foundation has been a member since the outset. Our membership of this platform allows the ANAR Foundation to operate in a network with all missing children phonelines in the EU. There are 30 organisations in 26 countries.

The ANAR Peru Foundation launched its ANAR Phoneline in Quechua with the aim that all Quechua-speaking children and teenagers in the Andes would have access to psychological, social and legal support in their mother tongue. The phoneline was recognised by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children “as an essential landmark in strengthening the national child protection system… which will allow the country to make clear progress towards the goal of a life free of violence against children”.

The ANAR Foundation organised the 5th World Congress of the CHI (Child Helpline International) in Madrid, attended by representatives of 119 helplines from all 5 continents. In parallel, the ANAR Foundation organised a young people’s forum, at which over 100 teenagers discussed the problems faced in childhood and adolescence, before presenting their conclusions to all the representatives of the child helplines from the participating countries.

The ANAR Spain Foundation was unanimously chosen as the Head of the Europe Region. Votes in the election came from all the European child helplines belonging to the CHI. At the same Congress, the ANAR Peru Foundation was voted Head of the Americas Region (Latin America, USA and Canada). Between 2010 and 2014, the ANAR Spain Phoneline and ANAR Peru Phoneline were responsible for the Europe and Americas Regions.

The ANAR Foundation opened its Missing Children Phoneline. The number 116000, standardised throughout the European Union, has been declared of social interest by the European Commission. In Spain it was assigned to the ANAR Foundation by the Ministry of the Interior. To develop the system, ANAR has signed a partnership agreement with the State Law Enforcement Agencies. The ANAR Foundation also operates a network with other missing children phonelines throughout the countries of the European Union.

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament invited the ANAR Foundation to give a presentation in the Parliament chamber entitled: “ANAR Phoneline as an example of a Helpline for Children and Teenagers at Risk in Europe”. The ANAR Foundation attended the European Parliament to explain the importance of child helplines in Europe to MEPs. The ANAR Phoneline set-up was chosen as a model for child helplines in the European Union.

ANAR Peru Phone receives the support of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child sends the Government of Peru its recognition of the work of the ANAR Peru Telephone in favor of children and urges the Peruvian Government to provide the necessary resources for its expansion and growth. Thanks to this recognition, the Peruvian government became aware of the importance of the ANAR Peru Telephone supporting its growth and development.

Founding of CHI: Child Helpline International, of which the ANAR Foundation is a founding member. The platform’s aim is to open helplines for children and teenagers worldwide. Having begun in Europe, it has become a reality. Child helplines now exist on all 5 continents.

The Honourable Javier Pérez de Cuellar, Acting President of Peru, presented Silvia Moroder, Founder of ANAR Peru, with the “Comendador” Order of Merit Award for Distinguished Services. The honour was granted in recognition of the work performed by the ANAR Helpline to defend and protect children’s rights in Peru.

Having built up 4 years of experience with the ANAR Phoneline in Spain, the ANAR Phoneline in Peru opened in 1997. This was the first helpline for children and teenagers to be set up in Latin America. The phoneline has received considerable recognition in South America, serving as a model for other Spanish-speaking lines which have been started up having received training at ANAR Peru.

The ANAR Foundation organised the first European Child Helpline Congress in partnership with the European union through the DAPHNE project, held on 13-14 November at the Euroforum in El Escorial, Madrid. The event was attended by representatives of NGOs from 16 countries that administer child helplines in Europe, demonstrating the organisation’s capacity to manage European projects and play a leading role in the field of child helplines.

His Highness Prince Felipe de Borbón took an interest in the innovative work performed by the ANAR Foundation, welcoming its Board of Trustees to the Zarzuela Palace to receive detailed information about the organisation’s work. They explained to him how the ANAR Foundation reaches out to all children and teenagers in Spain. He was likewise told about the serious problems that many of them face and with which the Foundation helps them through its ANAR Phoneline, by offering them the support they need to improve their lives.

After a lengthy process, the ANAR Phoneline was set up to help children and teenagers. People had difficulty understanding such an innovative support platform, and it took two years before it could begin operations in Spain. On 2 February 1994 the ANAR Helpline for Children and Teenagers at Risk was launched with a press conference attended by the Minister of Social Affairs, Cristina Alberdi, and the President of the ANAR Foundation, Silvia Moroder. As soon as the presentation ended, the ANAR Phoneline began to receive the first calls, which have increased in number ever since. The ANAR Phoneline was the third Children’s Helpline to open worldwide.

Shortly after the ANAR Phoneline began operations, we opened this new number intended for younger children who could not speak for themselves, and over time it has also become the ideal resource to help out teenagers. The phoneline provides assistance and guidance for legal minors, and is intended for families, school staff, neighbours and any other adult within their social circle. Because “behind a child or teenager with problems, there is an adult who needs guidance”.

1991 was a landmark year for Fundación ANAR because it became present in three Latin American countries: Colombia, Peru and Mexico. After 21 years, the foster homes in Madrid had been consolidated. Knowing the great needs of the children in Latin America, ANAR opened new foster homes in these countries, following the model of ANAR Spain’s homes.

ANAR was already present in Latin America, learning about the reality of children’s experiences around the world, and became part of the International Forum for Child Welfare Platform, to which the leading children’s charities belong. The President of ANAR became a member of the Governing Board of the IFCW and Vice-President of the European Forum for Child Welfare, learning about the first two and only children’s helplines in Europe at the time: Childline (in Britain) and the Telefono Azzurro (in Italy). The impact of the support provided by these phonelines, accessible to all children in their respective countries, proved decisive in the decision to set up the service in Spain.

ANAR was founded in 1970 with the creation of the first foster home for 5 abandoned brothers and sisters who were living in a truck. The eldest sister was aged 8, and took care of her siblings. It was such a positive experience that within two months we already had 12 children at the home. Over the following years new homes were gradually opened, making a total of 11, where more than 100 children have been fostered.