A few minutes past midnight on a Sunday, a call patches through. On one end, a trained operator, alert, picks up within a minute. On the other end is an 11-year-old from a village in Karnataka, who has hurriedly dialed 1098.
“My family is sleeping. I took my father’s phone and came outside to call you. They have planned to marry me off in the morning. Please come help me, but please don’t let them know I told you,” she whispers, shakily, into the receiver.
Hours later, the rescue team comes together — Childline team members, plainclothes police officers and staff from the District Child Protection Unit arrive at the village, just in time to intervene. They manage to stop one of the 1.5 million child marriages happening in India annually.
Since its establishment in 1996, the Childline – 1098 or “ten-nine-eight” as it has been socialised in schools and communities — has attended to over 85 million calls from across the nation. Interventions have included rescuing children from being forced to work at construction sites, finding children at railway stations in the grip of traffickers, saving them from abusive, violent homes and addressing sexual abuse.
As of 2021, the helpline covered 81 per cent per cent of districts across India (598 districts). This includes a network of 1,074 intervention units, and help desks at 141 railway stations and five bus terminals.
The future of this far-reaching network came into question in 2022 when the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) announced that the 1098 helpline would be merged with the national emergency helpline — 112 Emergency Response Support System (ERSS). Operations would thereby be transferred from Childline India Foundation, the nodal agency that had been setting up, supporting and monitoring child helpline services across India to the MWCD. This will be implemented by setting up a ‘Children’s Helpline’ at each District Child Protection Unit (DCPU).
Transition
Even as the rescue process is being integrated with emergency services, calls for intervention may be falling through the gaps. As of now, states have submitted proposals to the Union government for funding and other support required in setting up the new helpline units. Several states have set deadlines for the transition and are preparing to execute the same. For instance, in Kerala, the transition to 112 is set to happen on July 31.
In Karnataka, operations have taken a major hit. Centres are reporting a 60 per cent drop in the number of calls since the announcement of the merger.
Yet, teams have been struggling to keep up with the caseload. “Staff are not sure about the future of their jobs, so 80% of them have left to join other organisations. They are the ones who would be rescuing children, filing cases and FIRs,” says Sheila Devaraj, director, Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA). Other centres in Karnataka’s districts are functioning with just 2 or 3 members of their usual 12-member teams.
The lack of motivation to continue working without clarity on their future has proved a challenge in Assam, says Sidarth Shashi Sharma who works with Childline in Guwahati. “We used to register around 40 calls every month at our centre. Since the announcement, we get maybe 15 or 16 through the Childline,” he says.
While a formal notification is still pending, Sharma says, “we have heard through the grapevine that some staff will be absorbed, but this is only a verbal promise as of now. We actually have no idea yet of how things will change.”
He adds that staff are concerned that the merger will involve an expansion in the scope of tasks.
The plight of Childline’s workers is especially grim, considering a large number of them have been with the organisation since its inception. “We have seen a high attrition rate, many have been working for 15 or 20 years, for low salaries ranging from Rs 14,000 for coordinators to as little as Rs 8,000 or Rs 6,000 for the field team,” says Vasudeva Sharma, executive director of Child Rights Trust.
The loss of trained staff is particularly concerning as trials are ongoing in several hundreds of cases. “Our former colleagues are witnesses or complainants in so many cases. They are having to take time off from their new jobs to come testify, so we do not know how ongoing cases will fare,” says Nagamani C N, a Childline nodal coordinator from Karnataka.
Father Saji Elambaseril, director, Don Bosco Veedu and chairman of the Kerala Childline Forum agrees.“Our staff are still appearing in court for cases that happened six or seven years ago. Some of them may be absorbed in the new team, but we do not know yet,” he says.
In Kerala’s BOSCO-run helpline centres, 80% of staff have stayed on board for now, and 60 per cent of district centres have remained unaffected. “We have submitted a memorandum to the government asking that staff be retained in the new helpline teams at the DCPU, but as of now, there is no clarity on what will happen,” says Father Saji.
In the SOP, the Ministry specified that preference may be given to staff with emergency helpline experience while hiring.“If existing staff qualify, the plan is to recruit the same team. On our part, it saves us work on capacity-building, as they are well-versed in these issues,” says a DCPU official from Karnataka.
Concerns
It is not just civil society, but also police and communities that see eye to eye on one fact — over the past two decades, Childline has gradually built trust within communities, assuring them of dedicated action and confidentiality. As a result, issues of a highly sensitive nature are reported frequently through the helpline. According to an analysis of calls by Childline India Foundation, tip-offs included physical and sexual abuse, child labour, education-related issues, runaway children and missing children.
“With police becoming the first port of call instead of social workers and child experts, there are worries about how calls are going to be handled. For example, handling calls from children in mental distress and trauma demands special expertise and training; and may require immediate to long-term support and counselling – which the police personnel are not trained to do,” says Puja Marwaha, CEO, Child Rights and You.
She cites the example of ‘silent calls’. These are calls in which the operator hears background noise indicating that the caller is unable to speak. Childline staff are trained to pay attention to these calls as, in practice, many have turned out to be calls seeking assistance. Due to their nuanced understanding, Childline operators patiently wait and encourage the callers to speak, often getting leads that would otherwise be lost.
Seeking police help
With calls being redirected to 112, another question arises – how will children feel in approaching police with their problems?
“Children run away when they see us. This is especially so when they are in unsafe situations like labour or begging,” says Swati (name changed), a police officer from Bengaluru. She is the child welfare officer in her station, meaning she and others like her from various stations meet with higher police officials regularly to discuss child-related cases and child protection issues. Yet, she worries about the procedural lapses that will come with the merger.
“We study child protection in our training, and our teams are aware of the protocol. We follow it very carefully. However, when we are part of a rescue, we depend largely on Childline to interact with the children and speak to them in a friendly, non-threatening manner. They know how to speak to children and make them feel comfortable,” says Swati.
Police involvement in rescue is essential – they put together a case file, ensure the child is safe and support the process of filing FIRs and more. However, “many times, the child may just need to hear a consoling voice, and be able to confide in someone. If that is missing, we are worried about what complaints will just not reach us,” says Vasudeva Sharma.
An uncertain future
Will the new teams manning the helpline be able to maintain its efficacy and accessibility? “Many children call the helpline after midnight or in the early hours of the morning, to do so in secret,” says Sunanda Tolbandi, former district Childline coordinator in Vijayapura district.
Several activists question the possibility of the 24x7 rescue service, considering the winding path from the call to the intervention. The lightning-fast coordination required takes time and infrastructure to build, and may suffer when encountered by the bureaucracy of government officials and departments.
From the operational perspective, the quality of services stands to be affected. According to child protection specialists, the DCPUs do not have adequate human resources dedicated to handle the volume of calls and respond to them on a real-time basis. “With a huge human resource crunch and vacancies across levels in the existing pool of police personnel, this additional work may prove to be an extra burden for them, eventually leading to a compromise in the quality of service delivery,” says Puja.
Follow-up of cases and rehabilitation is a concern too. Take for instance, in Telangana, where twice every year, police teams conduct rescue efforts, to find, help and rehabilitate children from various unsafe situations. “However, over time, we noticed that the same children would be found working or in the same situations again later that year, and be rescued in the next cycle,” says Anuradha Rao, an activist in Telangana.
It is not clear what happens once the rescue is conducted, she adds. “In other cases, the department officials conduct the operations, but it is too little too late. We need to work fast in these cases and take action within a day. Many times this does not happen,” she says.
When a case was reported, Childline teams would work to expedite the judicial and admin processes. “When Childline was involved, everything sped up. The teams would work hard to push cases forward and make sure they are taken seriously,” says Father Saji.
Further, the community outreach focus at the centre of Childline’s activities was essential to build trust and reassure children. “The crux of Childline is ‘road corner meetings’ — where social workers meet with youngsters and children, chat with them about life and what difficulties they are facing. Others meet with parents and community members at shops and bus stands to talk about general child protection issues,” says Vasudeva Sharma.
The government operation of the children’s helpline needs to center around this outreach and awareness approach. “The government must reach out to the community with passion. A human touch is required, with personalised contact,” he adds.
While police stations conduct awareness programmes a few times a year, this happens only when a senior official takes special interest, says Swati. “Our inspector feels community programmes are essential, so we go to schools on occasion to talk about child abuse and reporting mechanisms,” she says. However, they still largely rely on Childline to raise awareness among children and the community.
Due to its wide ambit of work on various child protection issues, Childline holds a wealth of knowledge on legislation, policy, procedures and schemes. “We go with parents to the police station, we help families file FIRs, we give them advice on how to proceed legally and administratively,” says Nagamani. In this role, Childline became an essential link between police, government departments and the community – particularly children in distress.
Childline’s deep roots in communities highlights the need for further groundwork to establish child-friendly environments, confidentiality and accountability before merging, says Sheila. APSA has been managing one of the Childline’s centres in Bengaluru since 1996. She points out that new challenges are arising constantly, “Having been in this work for decades, our team is still learning. The gamut of issues has widened, with globalisation, privatisation and digitalisation.”
Potential for good
Despite concern and criticism, the shift of 1098 operations could prove positive. “This decision does bring several improvements – it means more vehicles for emergency pickup, more funding and greater capacity,” says the DCPU official. The central government has promised additional funds as required by each state, she points out.
Several social workers are optimistic about the greater involvement of police and State – “We actually observe a very positive relationship between children and the police in Assam,” says Sidarth. He adds that police officials take a specific and careful interest when it comes to cases relating to children.
Childline too, was not without its shortcomings. It has seen several calls, over the years, to raise wages and address delays in procedure.
The room for improvement is evident but a hasty transition without sufficient preparation will prove disastrous for children who need intervention. While operational, financial and infrastructural requirements seem to be accounted for in great detail, the plan to make the process child-friendly still remains vague.
Further, plans for collaboration with NGOs, child rights experts and those working in the field are ill-defined, left up to each state government.“The state government may decide to do away with current teams. They may or may not consult with NGOs,” says Father Saji. Yet, consultation is essential, he stresses. “We are well-versed in child-friendly communication, have clearly-defined child policies and have the capacity to handle complex and serious cases. The government must consult with NGOs at various levels to work together,” he adds.
However, as the transition to 112 is set to happen, and both calls and staff at child helpline centres continue to decline, one question looms large: When a child dials for help, who will answer, and how?
Where will children turn for help?
The announcement of the merger caused widespread concern among child rights activists, social workers, teachers and even communities. The primary apprehension is with regard to children’s access to the helpline. Will children feel comfortable and safe reporting issues to the police? How will operators at 112 use child-friendly techniques? If not for 1098, one of the only child-focused helplines in the country, where will children turn for help?
Clarifying the reasons and process of integration, in a September 2022 press release, the MWCD stated that the back-end technology of 1098 would be merged with 112. Calling 1098 will redirect to the 112 police control room.
This would widen its scope, they added — SMS services would be available, along with caller location identification, call conferencing and digital logging of calls.
Now, when a call is made to 1098, it goes to the contact centre. Here, the operator determines whether it is an intervention call or an information call. In the case of calls requiring intervention, the details are then shared with the relevant district unit within a one-minute deadline.
According to the Standard Operating Procedure document published in March this year by the MWCD, calls will be classified as either emergency or non-emergency calls. Emergency calls will include reports of child marriage, child labour, missing or found children and protection from abuse. Non-emergency calls will include requirements for legal, psychosocial support and administrative assistance.
Non-emergency calls will be directed to the child helpline unit at the relevant DCPU. Emergency calls, on the other hand, will be routed by the MWCD control rooms to 112.
The document also specifies the roles of each stakeholder, the staffing requirements for the helpline units at the WCD, DCPU as well as railway and bus stand helpdesks.
A significant proportion of calls comes from “concerned adults” – parents, teachers and members of the community. But more than one in every ten of these calls is placed directly by a child. “Sometimes, children call to report incidents in their schools, about their friends. But in many cases, children report abuse and other issues in their own lives, trusting that their identity will be kept confidential,” says Sunanda Tolbandi, former district Childline coordinator in Vijayapura district.
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