Child Helpline in India

"Child Helpline in Indias" is the title of this blog post. It seeks to give the learner a fundamental grasp of India's emergency child hotline system, which steps in to offer assistance and protection to children who are in dangerous situations. It also aims to provide the learner with the fundamental knowledge necessary for using the child helpline for the benefit of children and for managing the child helpline system. The learner will be able to comprehend the key components of the child helpline, namely CHILDLINE 1098, as well as how it relates to children who require care and protection, especially those who live in challenging circumstances.

Content

History of Child Helpline in India
Universal Four Digit Helpline Number
Government Partnership
Conclusion

History of Child Helpline in India

The primary responsibilities of the family, the government, and civil society groups are to protect children from any kind of abuse, exploitation, or neglect and to provide emergency support to children who are in any kind of challenging situation. The concept for a telephone-based emergency child helpline originated in India in 1996. As there were no mobile phone networks and fewer people had landlines at the time, telephone-based helplines were not very common in India.

It is possible to trace the beginnings of the child helpline in India to the fieldwork experiences of social work students. For their fieldwork, certain Tata Institute of Social Sciences students in Mumbai were sent to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, often known as VT Station, of the Central Railway. These pupils were assigned to work with the many street kids who could be found in and around the train station. Many of these kids had fled their own families in an effort to avoid an abusive or exploitative upbringing. Many of them had come to Mumbai in quest of work opportunities and better living arrangements. These street kids worked odd occupations that they could find at the station, where hundreds of travelers gathered every day, like selling water in recycled bottles, cleaning the railroad bogies, and rag picking, in order to make enough money to cover their basic necessities. Many of them continued to dwell close to the train station since they felt more free on Mumbai's streets. 2013 (Menachery)

The students considered ways to protect these kids and to persuade them to embrace the rehabilitation strategies they had developed in collaboration with other non-profit groups. Many of these kids preferred the freedom of the streets than a life of discipline in an institution because they had become accustomed to it. These kids claimed that they felt secure during the day. However, they acknowledged to the students that they encountered exploitation, abuse, and other challenges on the streets, mainly at night from antisocial characters, beggars, and even police officers, and that they required some protection system. When they encountered difficulties, they required assistance. The students made the decision to assist these kids. They discussed these topics with their faculty supervisor, Ms. Jeroo Billimoria, regarding street children. When street kids needed assistance, it was determined that they could call them on their house phones from public phone booths (only land lines were available at the time). This marked the launch of India's emergency helpline system for kids living in challenging situations. 2013 (Menachery)

The students quickly started getting numerous calls from children on the streets asking for assistance, even at unusual hours. They then came to the realization that they were unable to handle the circumstance and needed a more structured helpline system. In June 1996, this occurred. The Department of Family & Child Welfare at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences developed a field action project that envisioned reaching out to assist children in need through a telephone helpline called CHILDLINE after considering the potentials for social work intervention to ensure child protection with the aid of a telephone helpline.

Universal Four Digit Helpline Number

The Mumbai Police Commissioner was then asked by TISS for permission to use emergency police number 100 as the number to contact CHILDLINE to assist street children in need. However, the police department did not accept this offer because the control room number 100 was primarily intended for citizens to call the police control room so that emergency assistance could be dispatched to stop crimes and apprehend offenders. The telecommunications department was then contacted by TISS with their request. In order to support youngsters in difficult situations, The Mumbai Telephones informed them that it was possible to set up a dedicated telephone helpline with a global four-digit number. A four-digit number for the helpline was also requested by The Mumbai Telephones from CHILDLINE. The students attended frequent gatherings with the street kids dubbed "Open Houses" by then and had developed strong relationships with them. The street kids were invited to offer a four-digit number for the child helpline during one such "Open House." Surprisingly, the kids came up with the simple to remember number 1098, or "dus, nau, aat" in Hindi. The telephone department received the number and created the first four-digit toll-free child hotline in the nation, known as CHILDLINE, with a global number of 1098, and with restricted accessibility within Mumbai city. 2013 (Menachery)

The Samaritans' suicide prevention helpline was the only professionally run helpline in Mumbai, and possibly all of India, up to that point. However, it had an ordinary phone number rather than a four-digit worldwide toll-free number. The suicide prevention helpline's phone number was therefore not well-known and difficult to recall. From the beginning, CHILDLINE made an effort to promote the number and spread awareness of its presence.

Government Partnership

TISS made steps to scale up the service after realizing that the CHILDLINE model was a successful one. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, held a national workshop at TISS on June 23–25, 1998, with the theme "CHILDLINE: A National Service." The suggested CHILDLINE scheme's draft was completed at this workshop. Smt. Maneka Gandhi, the former Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, who had also attended the Workshop as a Guest of Honor, received the draft. She declared that her Ministry will work with TISS to promote CHILDLINE service across the nation after being convinced of the enormous potential of this helpline service. The Ministry therefore made the decision to gradually roll out CHILDLINE as part of the "Integrated Street Children's Scheme," starting with the major cities. New Delhi became the country's second CHILDLINE (after Mumbai), and by 1998, Nagpur became the nation's third.

After the field action project's goals were met, TISS made the decision to transfer control of the CHILDLINE program to a separate entity in order to foster its expansion. In collaboration with the Indian government's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF) was subsequently established. The CIF was tasked with assisting with the replication of the CHILDLINE service across the nation. Services, Communication & Strategic Initiatives, Finance and Administration, and Resource Mobilization are just a few of the departments that make up the CIF. The Ministry of Women & Child Development was established by the Union government in 2006, and CHILDLINE service was moved to this new ministry at that time. Since the fiscal year 2009–2010, the Ministry of Women & Child Development of the Government of India has been implementing the "Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS)," which includes CHILDLINE as a key component.

Characteristics of CHILDLINE

In "reaction to a scenario characterised by a lack of an emergency service for children, constrained outreach of existing organizations, and the ad hoc role of allied systems in child protection," CHILDLINE was established (CIF: 2011). In addition to offering telephone counseling, CHILDLINE also operates as an emergency hotline that steps in when necessary. The caller has the choice of disclosing or not disclosing his or her identify. It was designed as a free, round-the-clock emergency phone outreach program for kids who needed care and security. As a result, it was a 24/7 intervention service from the beginning, making it accessible every day of the year, at all hours. The intention was to connect with the caller if necessary and offer the required assistance. This called for the development of an effective and dedicated network that could quickly reach every nook and cranny of the metropolis. So, from the start, CHILDLINE placed a strong emphasis on creating partnerships. In order to operate the service by responding to the calls, committed volunteer organizations in various regions of the country were recognized as partners and given the term "Collaborative Organizations." A few additional nonprofits were invited as "Support Organizations," which offered assistance with follow-up issues. As "Nodal Organizations," academic institutions such social work colleges joined the collaboration and contributed training, advocacy, documentation, and general support to develop the helpline. As a result, there are three different categories of partner organizations for the country's child helpline service: collaborative, support, and nodal.

In addition to being visible, easily accessible, and toll-free, a professional helpline must also be sensitive to callers' needs and refrain from making value judgments; it must also maintain callers' privacy; it must guarantee credible and reliable intervention in the shortest amount of time; and it must be sustainable. Since the beginning, CHILDLINE has retained each of these characteristics. Additionally, it gave kids the freedom to converse openly with the social workers even when they were not in a precarious situation that required assistance. In an effort to win over the trust of the kids and provide them the emotional support they required, this was purposefully done.

Growth of CHILDLINE

According to census data from 2011, India is thought to be the country where over 19% of all children live. Furthermore, 44 crore people, or more than one third of the population, are under the age of 18. In India, two out of every three kids experienced physical abuse. More over 50% of youngsters were experiencing some kind of physical abuse. Two out of every three school-age children reported receiving corporal punishment, or around 65% of those who attend said they had. 53.22% of kids said they had experienced sexual abuse in one form or another (Kacker L, et al: 2007). A hotline service that must serve this sizable market must unquestionably expand in both its scope and capacity to be successful. By July 2015, India's CHILDLINE service was available to children in 329 cities/districts spanning 31 states/Union Territories, and it had expanded into a national network of 617 partner organizations (Hello Childline, 2015). The sole development sector service currently available nationwide from all telecom service providers is called CHILDLINE, which is also India's largest helpline service in terms of calls received. The goal is to gradually establish CHILDLINES in all of the country's districts.

The National Initiative for Child Protection (NICP), a spinoff of CHILDLINE, was introduced by the National Institute of Social Defense in the year 2000. Through its network, the CHILDLINE India Foundation was instrumental in the conception of this initiative and in making it operational throughout the nation. To achieve greater coordination across multiple agencies, associated systems are trained in many facets of child rights and child protection through NICP. The Integrated Child Protection Scheme was subsequently launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development using the NICP as a foundation (ICPS).

In order to ensure prompt assistance when children in trains or at railway stations needed it, the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Railways jointly launched the "Railway CHILDLINE" initiative in 2015. This initiative called for the establishment of CHILDLINE Help Desks at significant railway stations across the nation.

Modus Operandi of CHILDLINE

The work of India's CHILDLINE, a phone outreach-based intervention strategy, starts when a call for assistance is received. The neighborhood CHILDLINE team jumps into action for immediate intervention as soon as this occurs. Intervention includes a variety of actions, such as rescuing children from abusive situations and child labour, offering immediate SOS care in accidents and other medical emergencies, registering a case at the police station, bringing a child before the city or district's Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and putting together the paperwork for further action as instructed by the CWC. Each instance is distinct in its own way. While some problems can be solved in about an hour, others require months of labor.

CHILDLINE understood from the beginning that it could not function independently. To ensure children's protection, it therefore sought to involve a number of allied systems, including the Department of Telecommunications, the Health Care System, the Police, the Juvenile Welfare Boards and Child Welfare Committees, Residential Institutions for Children, the Railways, the Transport System, etc. The operational model of CHILDLINE entails the team establishing a number of connections between the allied system institutions, including the judiciary, child care NGOs, local, state, and federal governments, as well as the police, municipalities, health care, education, and transportation institutions. The team frequently offers original solutions that call for a pertinent interpretation of laws like the Juvenile Justice Act and others, and they educate related organizations about problems. The "CHILDLINE Advisory Boards" (CAB) at the city/district level, which are made up of representatives of government and local self government officials, voluntary sector workers, police, and other allied system functionaries, as well as members of the CHILDLINE team, monitor its operation and put forth supportive measures. The District Collectors typically serve as the CABs' Chairpersons.

Telephones with the 1098 number were immediately connected to the Collaborative Organizations when CHILDLINE first started operating in India, allowing callers to speak with team members there. In order to provide a more organized method of receiving and recording calls, CHILDLINE implemented the cutting-edge technology of a "Call Centre" in 2008. Therefore, as of right now, every caller from India's Northern and Western areas calls the CHILDLINE Call Centre (CCC), the primary organization to which all 1098 calls from these two regions are routed. The CCC will eventually govern all areas of the nation, according to CIF.

Outreach programmes

In child to raise awareness of the service and to better understand the problems that influence children's rights, members of the CHILDLINE team arrange outreach programs and open houses in various parts of the city or district. These initiatives also encourage kids to call CHILDLINE in case of emergency. During these outreach/open house programs, people can personally report problems to CHILDLINE in addition to calling the hotline for assistance. While most callers (72%) used the 1098 number to get in touch with Childline, there were some incidents (14%), where children asked for help from Childline during outreach programs run by Childline team members. Adults (7%) made other visits to the CHILDLINE office to report problems. Other nonprofit groups occasionally (4%) forwarded cases to CHILDLINE. (CIF: 2012).

Conclusion

Through its cooperative/collective efforts with the Government of India, State Governments, and Civil Society Organizations, the CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF) seeks to improve and systematize child protection in India and to elevate children's issues to a top priority on the national agenda. The development of this program to include all districts across the nation has been mandated by the Ministry of Women & Child Development to CIF. The operation of the child hotline, which CIF designed and improved, is a round-the-clock, toll-free phone outreach service that connects children in need of care and protection with governmental and non-profit institutions. The important connection between needy children and the services offered is made by CHILDLINE. It serves as a single point of contact that makes it easy for people to get immediate access to support, proactive intervention, guidance, or just emotional support, depending on what they need. It is a model that is suitable and durable for Indian reality. It is also a blueprint that other helplines in the nation should follow.