A QUARTER of adults in the West Midlands believe that troubled children are beyond hope by the age of ten.

A survey by children’s charity Barnardo’s followed riots in Birmingham and the Black Country blamed on youngsters and gangs.

Nearly half of 2,000 adults questioned across Britain said that young people today were ‘angry, violent and abusive’.

And researchers found that nearly one in four adults believed children who behaved anti-socially were beyond help by the age of ten, with only a third of those surveyed believing professional help could bring about change.

But Barnardo’s Midland director Sam Monaghan said adults needed to think again before writing off young people.

“It is truly depressing that so many people appear ready to give up on children, writing them off as ‘animals’ and ‘feral’,” he said.

“We seem to have forgotten the fact that most children are well-behaved. Instead we are accepting a stereotype of young people as criminal and revolting.

“What hope is there for childhood in the UK today if that is how adults think?”

Barnardo’s has launched a new campaign to highlight the difficulties experienced by some youngsters.

The charity argued that more than a quarter of young people facing the youth justice system had experienced violence at home and that more than half had significant communication problems. “The small minority of children who come across as angry and abusive have often been scarred by their upbringing,” said Mr Monaghan.