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Case-Studies

13. Case of Abandoned, mentally challenged child:
Case 1: Rahul.

Government Railway Police (GRP) referred Rahul to the Kota CHILDLINE. The police found the mentally challenged child all alone in the railway station. Since the child could not communicate it was difficult for the team to get any information regarding his family. The child's photograph was published in the local newspaper. Since there was no shelter facility available for the mentally challenged children in Kota, he had to be referred to Jaipur. All the requisite procedure to transfer the child to Jaipur was under process. The matter was placed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate and Additional District Magistrate.

It was while these procedures were being followed that a man visited the CHILDLINE centre enquiring if the center provided shelter for girls. Meanwhile Rahul had been staying at the center for the past ten days. Upon seeing the man the child began to cry uncontrollably. This raised doubts in the minds of the team. However the man did not show any concern for the child. He was in a hurry to leave the place. The team members collected his address and phone number.

Following the man's departure the team contacted on the number and found out that the child was his son. The man was called back to the center and initially refused to acknowledge the boy as his son. As the child was mentally challenged he could not look after him. The family did not have the resources and the skills needed to look after a mentally challenged child. He was considered a burden. He had heard that institutions looked after children living on the stations. With this intention he had left the child at the station.

After a few days he had gone the station to look for his son only to be told by the vendors there that GRP had handed over the child to CHILDLINE.

The child's father was counselled and told that the family is the best place for the child to be in than in an institution. The child is presently happy to be with his family; meanwhile CHILDLINE is in a look out for alternatives such special school for the child.

Case 2: Roshni.

CHILDLINE Murshidabad received a call from the Jiagunj Block Primary Health Centre, Murshdabad District regarding a 14 year old mentally disturbed child named Roshni. Roshni had been found sitting alone on the health center campus. A CHILDLINE team member brought the child to the CHILDLINE centre and through consequent interactions with the child, it was found that after her mother's death her father had abandoned the child leaving her in the care of her maternal uncle (her only relative). However, the uncle was not willing to take care of Roshni and so she left the house. The child was presented before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). As per the CWC's order, the child was placed in a shelter home for girls in Berhampore, Murshidabad.
A doctor, who suggested that the child would be better cared for at a shelter for mentally challenged children, examined Roshni. With the intervention of the District Social Welfare Officer, Murshidabad Roshni was admitted to a shelter for mentally ill children in Murshidabad. CHILDLINE Murshidabad conducts follow up on Roshni at regular intervals.