CHILDLINE stands for a friendly 'didi' or a sympathetic 'bhaiya' who is always
there for vulnerable children 24 hours of the day, 365 days of the year. 17
million calls
as off Dec. 2009
, 3 million children,
83 cities,
12 years.
A phone number that spells hope for millions of children across India, CHILDLINE is India's first 24-hour, free, emergency phone service for children in need of aid and assistance. Whether you are a concerned adult or a child, you can dial 1098, the toll free number to access our services. We not only respond to the emergency needs of children but also link them to services for their long-term care and rehabilitation. We have, to date, reached out to over three million children across the nation through such calls.
We work for the protection of the rights of all children in general. But our special focus is on all children in need of care and protection, especially the more vulnerable sections, which include:
Street children and youth living alone on the streets
Child labourers working in the unorganised and organized sectors
Domestic help, especially girl domestics
Children affected by physical / sexual / emotional abuse in family, schools or institutions.
Children who need emotional support and guidance
Children of commercial sex workers
Child victims of the flesh trade
Victims of child trafficking
Children abandoned by parents or guardians
Missing children
Run away children
Children who are victims of substance abuse
Differently-abled children
Children in conflict with the law
Children in institutions
Mentally challenged children
HIV/ AIDS infected children
Children affected by conflict and disaster
Child political refugees
Children whose families are in crises
The Vision that Moulded CHILDLINE
A child - friendly nation that guarantees the rights and protection of all children.
Our Only Objectives
Move Mouse Pointer over buttons to read about our objectives:
To reach out to every child in need of care and protection by responding to emergencies on 1098.
Awareness about CHILDLINE 1098 amongst every Indian child.
To provide a platform of networking amongst organisations and to provide linkages to support systems that facilitate the rehabilitation of children in need of care and protection.
To work together with the Allied Systems (Police, Health Care, Juvenile Justice, Transport, Legal, Education, Communication, Media, Political and the Community) to create child friendly systems.
To advocate services for children that are inaccessible or non existent.
To create a body of NGOs and Government organisations working within the national framework and policy for children.
To be a nodal child protection agency in the country, providing child protection services to children in need of care and protection.
To contribute and work towards strengthening and participating in a global movement that addresses issues related to child protection and ensures that children's voices are heard.
The CHILDLINE team receives & responds to the calls
Crisis Intervention
Direct assistance: medical, shelter, protection from abuse, repatriation, death, missing children, intensive counselling
On phone: Emotional support and guidance, information and referral to services for the caller, information about CHILDLINE, silent calls
Long-term rehabilitation
After the emergency needs of the child have been addressed, CHILDLINE explores options with the child to study, learn a trade, go back home etc. Based on the decision of the child, CHILDLINE links the child to an appropriate organisation in the city.
Street children are especially vulnerable to crisis situations where they are trapped with no one to respond to their pleas for help. Our primary function is to respond to the needs to such children, more so in emergencies. We define emergency as a crisis period in the child's life, wherein if the child does not get timely and sustained intervention, it could lead to the relapse of child into the crisis situation. After the emergency is taken care of, we also help the child with rehabilitation
Although several services existed throughout the country for protection of child rights and needs, the efforts were disjointed as these services worked solo, thus lacking a cohesive, effective mode of function. We provide that much required platform for networking amongst these and various other organisations through the country, thus forming an effective web of relationships for rehabilitation of children.
An important function of CHILDLINE is to sensitise, train and collaborate with allied systems, such as the Police, Hospital, Railway, Municipal Corporations, Government, Educational Institutions and Social Welfare Organisations to work towards ensuring the rights of children in need of special care and protection.
In order to increase transparency and accountability, we always document the process of CHILDLINE. We also conduct research on relevant issues to bring them to fore and help make this a child friendly world.
It is important to create a turnkey network of various sections that can be instrumental in working towards bringing children's rights issues to force. We are dedicated to working towards building a referral network of legal, medical, economic and media professionals to advocate for child related issues.
It is important to bring every child into the fold of child protection organizations. To increase our outreach, we work to establish CHILDLINE networks in the Asia Pacific region. We also network internationally to evolve a comprehensive child protection strategy.
Following our credo that we cannot work alone, we involve the government, the public, the media and the corporate sector in our efforts to respond to children's needs. Through this involvement, we are able to strengthen our base and come closer to achieving our objective of getting everyone to work for children in need.
Since it is important to create a legal framework to support any issue, we advocate for changes in laws and policies relating to children's issues.
We believe that integrated, synergised efforts can go a long way in enabling us to create a widespread network of outreach for children. We work towards this by exploring possibilities of merging and integrating with government aided programmes.
A well-trained staff which understands the processes and philosophy of CHILDLINE is crucial to our efforts. Management of the organisation at city and national level is facilitated by establishing a training and documentation centre.
We use our systems, expertise and experience to develop Management-Information Systems to assist organisations to provide quality service to the child.
With a vast backup of documents, research and reports on children related issues, we also contribute towards theory building.
CHILDLINE TODAY
The Government of India has presented CHILDLINE as its response to the
Child Rights Convention. We pride ourselves at being a one point window, connecting children in need to various NGO's working for child related issues. CHILDLINE works towards ensuring that all children in need of care and protection are aware of and have access to services, that are child friendly, available when they want it and encourage them to participate in decisions that affect them.
The country's first toll-free tele-helpline
for street children has grown into a national child protection
service that operates in over 83
cities and
towns in India. In 12 years, CHILDLINE has received 17
million calls as of Dec. 2009 from children in need
of care and protection from across the country
