Children runaway to escape parental abuse: Survey
A survey by the Child Welfare Committee estimates that more than a hundred runaway children arrive alone in Bangalore everyday. Many of them find work as rag pickers and in hotels as dish washers, but most of them end up on the street
WHEN LIFE becomes impossible, even children take their lives into their tiny hands. “I left home,” says Aakash, nonchalantly. He’s a nine-year-old boy, who ran away from Bijapur to Bangalore, 400 km to the south. “My father used to beat me. I now work as a rag picker.” How he survived the journey we don’t know. Nor how he survives everyday without a family, food or shelter in a cold, heartless city. His story is no different from those of thousands of children you see on the streets of Bangalore.
A survey by the Child Welfare Committee, administered by the state government’s Ministry of Women and Children Development, estimates that more than a hundred runaway children arrive alone in the city everyday. Many of them find work as rag pickers, in hotels as dish washers if they are lucky, but most end up on the street, vulnerable to every form of predation.
Counselors give various reasons as to why children run away from their homes. It can be due to poverty, family problems, peer pressure, etc. The parents often complain of not getting enough co-operations from the police officials. Also not all the cases get registered with the missing persons bureau. BOSCO and APSA are the city based NGOs, which are involved in rescuing these street children. The NGOs say that they follow various strategies to deal with these rescued children. First the child is rescued and some first-degree operation is done.
Children are vulnerable, so they need to be handled carefully. Initially, they lie to the counselors but after a few days they feel free and they open up. Children from families in all walks of life run away from home for all kinds of reasons.
Saikia, a counselor says, “If things are starting to go wrong between you and your child, try to rebuild your relationship before there is a crisis.” According to The Children's Society, as many as 100,000 children under 16 (one ninth of the age group) run away from home or care every year in the UK - 77,000 of them for the first time. One in 14 child runaways first flee before the age of eight.
The US invests $100 million (£50 million) a year on runaway children, providing emergency shelter with skills training and therapy to help them turn their lives around. The counselors in the city also outline various other reasons on why do these children runaway. Threatening to run away is often a call for help from these children. It's a way of expressing a problem that the child is having trouble talking about directly.
Preadolescents and adolescents are less reliant on their parents for basic needs. That means that their threats to leave home can be carried out more easily. Even when they don't leave, children who make threats are giving you important information about how they feel and the limited options they see. Their threats can serve as a springboard for discussing those emotions and searching for additional options. A survey by CWC shows that among those teenagers who run way repeatedly, a significant proportion appears to be trying to escape some sort of abuse by adult.
Between drug abuse, alcohol, gangs, promiscuity and violence, it’s no wonder that some children become overloaded and they decide to leave.
The joint director of Women and Children Development Authority in Bangalore says that various measures need to be taken to curb this, “We have started with various committees in the district and taluk levels so that every missing child can be registered with the committee. Also the anti-trafficking department needs to be made aware of the situation.”
Many of these children make attempts to run away again as the independence of the city life seems attractive to them. There are some 25 NGOs all over Bangalore that are involved in this kind of operation of rescuing children. After the counseling session is done, they are being relocated. The rest of them are given some kind of vocational training or some of them opt for formal studies.
“I am studying hard and when I grow up I would like to work for street children,” says Gopal who left home some two years ago. “I want to be a doctor when I grow up,” says Aakash who ran away from his home two years ago.
“These children have dreams in their eyes and are determined to realise their dreams but many of them are not as fortunate as Aakash and Gopal,”says Father Edward, Director of BOSCO.
Some of them are still on the streets or employees somewhere as labourers or in some manner trying hard to earn for themselves or their families.
Children who work as child labourers work for some 8-12 hours continuously, which is hazardous for their health.
Child runaways from Bangalore mainly come from nearby regions of Bijapur, Raichur and Belgaum. Some of them also come all the way from Kanpur, Delhi, Orissa and Goa.
Counselors give various reasons as to why children run away from their homes. It can be due to poverty, family problems, peer pressure, etc. The parents often complain of not getting enough co-operations from the police officials. Also not all the cases get registered with the missing persons bureau. BOSCO and APSA are the city based NGOs, which are involved in rescuing these street children. The NGOs say that they follow various strategies to deal with these rescued children. First the child is rescued and some first-degree operation is done.
Children are vulnerable, so they need to be handled carefully. Initially, they lie to the counselors but after a few days they feel free and they open up. Children from families in all walks of life run away from home for all kinds of reasons.
Saikia, a counselor says, “If things are starting to go wrong between you and your child, try to rebuild your relationship before there is a crisis.” According to The Children's Society, as many as 100,000 children under 16 (one ninth of the age group) run away from home or care every year in the UK - 77,000 of them for the first time. One in 14 child runaways first flee before the age of eight.
The US invests $100 million (£50 million) a year on runaway children, providing emergency shelter with skills training and therapy to help them turn their lives around. The counselors in the city also outline various other reasons on why do these children runaway. Threatening to run away is often a call for help from these children. It's a way of expressing a problem that the child is having trouble talking about directly.
Preadolescents and adolescents are less reliant on their parents for basic needs. That means that their threats to leave home can be carried out more easily. Even when they don't leave, children who make threats are giving you important information about how they feel and the limited options they see. Their threats can serve as a springboard for discussing those emotions and searching for additional options. A survey by CWC shows that among those teenagers who run way repeatedly, a significant proportion appears to be trying to escape some sort of abuse by adult.
Between drug abuse, alcohol, gangs, promiscuity and violence, it’s no wonder that some children become overloaded and they decide to leave.
The joint director of Women and Children Development Authority in Bangalore says that various measures need to be taken to curb this, “We have started with various committees in the district and taluk levels so that every missing child can be registered with the committee. Also the anti-trafficking department needs to be made aware of the situation.”
Many of these children make attempts to run away again as the independence of the city life seems attractive to them. There are some 25 NGOs all over Bangalore that are involved in this kind of operation of rescuing children. After the counseling session is done, they are being relocated. The rest of them are given some kind of vocational training or some of them opt for formal studies.
“I am studying hard and when I grow up I would like to work for street children,” says Gopal who left home some two years ago. “I want to be a doctor when I grow up,” says Aakash who ran away from his home two years ago.
“These children have dreams in their eyes and are determined to realise their dreams but many of them are not as fortunate as Aakash and Gopal,”says Father Edward, Director of BOSCO.
Some of them are still on the streets or employees somewhere as labourers or in some manner trying hard to earn for themselves or their families.
Children who work as child labourers work for some 8-12 hours continuously, which is hazardous for their health.
Child runaways from Bangalore mainly come from nearby regions of Bijapur, Raichur and Belgaum. Some of them also come all the way from Kanpur, Delhi, Orissa and Goa.
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