With their operations remaining disrupted for nearly three months now, the Railway Childline Ernakulam has ramped up follow-up counselling of children they have already rescued and restored with families over the past couple of years.
Having rescued 493 children, including 62 girls, from across the country from railway station premises and trains since its inception in 2018, the Railway Childline operating out of the South railway station remains shut since the lockdown.
With no clear sign of resumption of services, it was decided to focus on follow-up of the already rescued children. “Since more than 50% of the children we have rescued were from Kerala, we are focussing on them,” said Shano Jose, coordinator, Railway Childline.
So far, 253 children from the State have been rescued over the past two years and the counsellors attached to the Railway Childline are following-up their cases.
”We have contacted over 30 such children and are delighted that none of them reported problems warranting serious counselling. The frustration of being restricted to home cut off from their friends remains the main issue,” said Aparna P.U, counsellor with Railway Childline. “This has been a major relief since personal counselling in the prevailing situation would have been tough. Besides, all of them were found to have access to online education as well,” she said.
Some anxious parents, however, ring up complaining about children going out frequently following which the counsellor talk to such children and even their friends.
”Follow-up with children from other States is not easy as there is the linguistic barrier. However, we make random calls using our trainees proficient in other languages,” said Ms. Aparna.
After Kerala, most of the children were rescued from Bihar (46), Tamil Nadu (42), Uttar Pradesh (26) and West Bengal (25). Children from Kerala are often found to leave home on trivial domestic issues and under the influence of social media while those from other States often migrate with someone from their villages in search of job, said Mr. Jose. The children so rescued are restored with their families through the child welfare committees concerned.
“We may have to use personal protection equipment as and when we resume operations considering the high-risk category people we have to deal with,” said Mr. Jose.