CWCs start following up on children returned to their families during nCOV
New Delhi: Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) in Delhi have started following up on children, who have been returned to their families during COVID-19 pandemic, to know about their well-being. They are also tracing those children who are with foster families.
Child Welfare Committee-III in Sewa Kutir Complex in Kingsway Camp has started contacting the children who were restored to their parents from January 2020 to March 2020. "We have so far contacted more than 50 children living in different states and were restored between January-March this year," said KC Virmani, chairperson, CWC-III.
According to a CWC official, the reason behind contacting children is to ensure that they are comfortable and are not becoming victims of physical or sexual violence during this period.
He further said, "When we contacted these children we also spoke to their families to know about their well-being and to enquire whether they need any kind of assistance. Five families needed financial assistance and ration, which were later provided by local administration and police." Around 22 children, who were released from CCIs after attaining the age of 18 and presently living in group aftercare facilities, were also contacted by the members.
Meenu Mehta, chairperson of CWC in Nirmal Chhaya complex said they have contacted around 10 children including those who are with foster families and were restored in March. "We ask parents about their daily routine with children from which we get an idea about the child's happiness and safety. She further said, "Questions are mainly related to precautions taken for children safety during COVID-19, financial problems and others."
Recently, CHILDLINE 1098, the national emergency helpline for children, has responded to a total of 4.6 lakh calls from March 20 to April 10. The CHILDLINE 1098 in a statement said that 30 per cent of the calls were from the northern region, followed by 29 per cent from the western region, and 21 per cent and 20 per cent from southern and eastern regions respectively. These calls include calls for information, active intervention, prank, crank calls, or silent calls even where the confidence building of the caller is undertaken.
A total of 9,385 interventions were taken up on the ground by the frontline unsung heroes during this period. Of these, 30 per cent of the cases were related to Coronavirus pandemic situation. Within the corona related interventions, 91 per cent of them requested for food while 6 per cent were for medical assistance and the remaining were help on transportation, reads the press statement.
