Kerala - Kochi   

A helping hand for distressed children

KOCHI: Childline, the toll free helpline for children, has received nearly 10,000 calls for emotional support and guidance since it was set up in 2001 in Kochi.

The centre, covering Ernakulam district, had till the other day received as many as 1,47,423 calls in all, that could be categorised as related to medical matters (92), shelter (1791), restoration (211), rescue (494), death (1), sponsorship (336), missing children (456), emotional support and guidance (9,942) and referral service (1599). Childline, which can be accessed by dialling 1098, offers emergency outreach services for children in need of care and protection. It functions under the Ministry of Women and Child Development and is a national service. It recently organised a child friendly number day on September 10 to create awareness of the service The Childline authorities said that the service had been able to help many children in facing distressful situations. It tries to reach out to marginalized children aged up to 18, and tries to help those in need of shelter, medical help, repatriation, rescue, death related assistance, sponsorship and emotional support and guidance.

It is now operational in 83 cities/districts in the country. Childline India Foundation (CIF) is the central nodal agency for the replication and facilitation of childline services. Now nine districts of Kerala have childline servicesThe Kochi childline was functioning from Don Bosco Sneha Bhavan and is facilitated by Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kalamassery. Sneha Bhavan had been working for street children in conjunction with Kochi Corporation for the past 35 years and it is the collaborative agency that is implementing Childline-1098 in Ernakulam district. It has been receiving calls from children facing domestic disturbance, family conflict, sexual abuse, violence and emotional and relational problems. People also call Childline to provide information relating to child labour, child beggary, child abuse, missing children, ill treatment meted out by children and so on.

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