CHENNAI: Continuing their child rescue awareness drive in Kanchipuram, the district child protection unit sensitised railway porters, auto, cab drivers and railway staff at Tambaram station for using 1098 to rescue runaway children. "For various reasons, these children run away from their homes and reach Chennai mostly by trains and buses," said David Paul, child protection unit officer of Kanchipuram. "The 1098 childline number is operation round the clock can be used to register information on children who appear to have run away or in distress," he said.
Over the last several months - from April 2016 to Feb 2017 - the child helpline number 1098 received 2,111 calls for help from the district, he said. The child protection unit, working with the Child Welfare Committee and two NGOs, Association for Community Development Services (ACDS) and Hand in Hand, India, have been active in rescue, counselling and rehabilitation of children rescue. The Railway Protection Force personnel at Tambaram have helped rescue 42 children in the district last year.
"There are kids from broken families who run away from their homes due to their parents not being happy with each other. We have also encountered cases when children run away from home ahead of exams due to the fear of failure," the officer added. "There are many who are misled by television, the Internet, and social media into coming to Chennai for lavish lifestyles and work opportunities in Kollywood," he continued, adding that many become targets of begging mafias and are made to beg at signals or even exploited sexually. "To avoid such incidents, it is the imperative of people like drivers, porters and police personnel around the station to keep an eye on children, even babies who are with people who don't resemble their parents," he urged.
Speaking about rescue and rehabilitation, D Devanban, director of ACDS said, "The children are rehabilitated in 128 children's homes in and around Kanchipuram. They undergo counselling with the CWC members, who decide to send them back home if the children are interested in going back. Those who decide against going back home are sheltered at these homes."
