SATHI: A friend for lost children at India’s railway stations

A child is unaware of the dangers that exist in the world around them. In the mind of a 10-year-old child, taking a quick solo ride on a train to the next town to look outside and enjoy the breeze shouldn’t be a reason to worry. But over 77,500 children in India went missing in 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. This was a 30% increase in lost children from the previous year. These children often end up at railway stations and are vulnerable to abuse by traffickers and other criminals. They could exploit the lost children for hard labour, forced begging, drug peddling, pornography and even prostitution. 

Of all the lost children, a portion is never found. Lost children are separated from their families, scared, alone and have no idea what will happen to them next. Vineet Raichur, programme director of SATHI sat down with us and shared in this video that a child at a railway station is exposed to many dangers. If there is no timely intervention, that child will be lost forever.

On the other hand, the children’s parents are just as frightened about the whereabouts and well-being of their missing children. 

This is what happened to the father of a fourteen-year-old girl named Deeksha. Deeksha lived with her aunt, and one day, she was wrongly accused of stealing. Frightened that she would be punished, Deeksha walked to the railway station, and, before she knew it, she was on a train heading to a neighbouring town. But when she arrived at the railway station, she found herself alone and stranded in a strange new place. One of the thousands of lost children.

Deeksha’s father searched for his missing daughter but couldn’t find her. He was devastated until he received a phone call from SATHI (Society for Assistance to Children in Difficult Situations), an NGO that works to rescue missing children at railway stations and bring them to safety. His missing daughter had been found, and he was on his way to be reunited with her.

Founded in 1992, SATHI has rescued more than 100,000 children from railway stations across India. For over 30 years, SATHI has worked to rescue and rehabilitate missing children and reunite them with their families. 

SATHI follows a 3-step process to ensure that missing children at railway stations are found and brought to safety:

1. 1. Rescue

A team of dedicated SATHI workers are located at more than 25 major railway stations in the country and are tasked with looking out for unaccompanied children. Once these children are spotted, the SATHI team takes great care to speak to the children in a friendly and non-threatening manner to confirm that they are either missing or have run away from their homes. Before the child is taken to safety, SATHI workers submit an official report to the local police, government authorities and the Railway Protection Force. The child is then brought to a safe location, usually the SATHI shelter home.  

2. Rehabilitate

At the SATHI shelter home, the children are given a safe and comfortable environment that resembles a warm and loving home and their immediate needs are met. They are served nutritious meals and given medical attention. But the overwhelming experience of getting lost or running away is difficult for a child to deal with psychologically. So, SATHI’s trained and professional counsellors speak to the children in a calm and casual demeanour to understand their situation. 

Through a series of conversations and activities, the children are encouraged to share and explain the circumstances that led them to be separated from their families. This helps the counsellors work with the rest of the SATHI team to plan to restore the children with their families. SATHI has been struggling to afford to keep the shelter home open. But your support to the fundraiser can help keep the home open for children needing rescue and rehabilitation.  

3. Reunite 

When attempting to get in touch with the child’s family, some of the children remember a contact number or address. But in many cases, especially when the child is very young, the family can be traced using specific landmarks or shops that the child can remember being near their home, for example. SATHI uses a network that includes the police, other non profit organizations, the general public and even social media to find any information to help locate the families of the missing child. 

When families are reunited, this gives SATHI the opportunity to meet them and have a thorough conversation about the physical and mental well-being of the child. It also provides insight into how the children will be cared for in the future to avoid another separation. These crucial conversations guarantee that the child will be in a safe environment with access to basic necessities, including an education. If the child’s home environment is found to be dangerous, the Child Welfare Committee gives them residence in a government children’s home. But SATHI’s journey with these children continues and they are constantly visited by the SATHI team. 

Why railway stations? Railway stations are particularly dangerous places for unsupervised children. Stations are crowded and busy areas with thousands of people entering and exiting multiple platforms within a span of a few minutes. Even if something looks out of place, such as a terrified child sitting alone on the platform, passersby would not be around long enough to recognize that something is wrong and alert the authorities. Furthermore, the areas around train stations are isolated and remote, making it easy for people to take children away from the station without anyone noticing. SATHI’s presence in railway stations aims to protect children and prevent crimes against them from occurring. 

The lost children rescued and rehabilitated by SATHI are the lucky ones. Every year, tens of thousands of children are separated from their families and fall into the hands of the worst criminals – those who harm and exploit children. But YOU can make a difference to help SATHI reopen their shelter home when you donate to the Give fundraiser. SATHI needs your help to protect the lost children with a safe shelter home until they are reunited with their families. Your charitable giving can make this happen.

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