About us.

Work at Railway Station :

Drawing Activity on Railway Platform

Counseling on Railway Platform

Field Work at Railway Station:

Children, who are found loitering on railway junctions and stations, are closely observed by our volunteers and the network of all the stake owners at the Platform.

As per our study we have categorized the children depending on their time frame that they have spent on the platform, also the Activity in which they are indulged. This categorization helps us to provide a systematic and effective solution to rehabilitate and shape up the life of a child.

For New Child
A child who had spent less than six month on the platform, we categorize as a New Child. The procedure followed for such children are as follows.

For Old Child
A child who had spent more than six months of time span on the platform, are categorized as an old child. The approach followed for such child is different, as their exposure is more and they have the mindset of a permanent stay at the platform. Rehabilitation of such child is handled in a separate structured manner.

Child who has own setup for survival
Especially child who had stayed for a long time, find their own means to sustain. Some indulge them in illicit means to earn easy money, and some work as a waiter at the Platform canteens and food stalls.

Preliminary activity is same for the all the category

•  Observing the child and validating with the help of our network
• Begin with a casual Interaction with that child with the help of our volunteers and other sources
•  Organize get together and informal sessions on the Platform, and rapport building with the identified child.
•   As per the law we register that child with the local police station and bring that child to the shelter.

Networking:

Awareness camp of  Samatol's work for police

Networking with Stake Owners of Railway Platform

Railway Station officials, Policemen, Stall Owners, and all such people who are linked with the Platform, This Network is used to keep an eye on the new child coming to the Platform. The sooner we reach runaway child the easier is to counsel him and resend him to his family.

Also this Strong network is used to monitor the children who are associated with us in the initial phase.

Networking with Voluntary organization in vicinity of Railway Platform

Networking with Voluntary organizations who are in the vicinity of the Railway platform, helps us in providing immediate intervention and relief to a child in distress.

Working with Accident Hamal

"Accident Hamal" a unique identity gained by individual who had spent his majority part of life on the railway platform. Railway officials address them with this tag "Accident Hamal" the Main reason behind this tag is the work that these people do. In case of any railway accident the dead bodies and cleaning the accident spot at the platforms. Railway staffs refuse this task is refused by the and hence is delegated to these people.

These individuals, who had lived with all these challenges on the Platform, seem to be very cooperative in terms of helping us to help the child Reunion with their families.

 

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Shelter:

Shelter is a Temporary arrangement for a child, where in a child can feel comfort of home and use the shelter facility, to keep his belongings safe and feel secured from the exploitation of various types. Along with providing Help, we also conduct the below activities at the shelter

Open House
Old Child who had not been Resend to his family due to some reasons, or is in the Initial phase are called to the shelter. This activity is scheduled bimonthly, where in we do Hair cutting, Nail Cutting, Routine Health Check-up along with organizing various interactive sessions. These are the Preliminary activity which lay foundation towards the home orientation for a child. So that the child will recollect this time at the family and someday would be convinced to go back to his family of his own.

Community Outreach
We organize a session for these children, where in they can interact with the Individuals of the mainstream. These interactions helps child to understand importance of self as well as experience the joy of getting respect from the peoples of the society who are well established and successful. 

Counseling in Camp

Counseling
With the help of dedicated team of samatol, and physiatrist at the panel we do the Counseling of children at a frequent interval. These counseling sessions help us to evaluate the childs mental development as well as the Impact due to the exposure.

Informal Education
Sessions of Informal education is organized for such children, as majorities were school going earlier. We have also initiated the bridge courses in association with "pratham" 

     

Manparivartan Shibir:

Manparivartan Shibir De addiction and Home Orientation CampAs the Child is away from home and Exposed to the bitter world, he picks up all the bad habits right from smoking to taking drugs. All these bad elements that have been inculcated in a Childs personality have to be corrected through a proper intervention.
Manaparivartan Shibir as the name suggests changes the Individuals mind and personality. A rigorous training in terms of sanskar, value education, ethics and also using correctional therapy to correct the behavior of a child who we found with some psychological problems.

Manaparivartan Shibir is usually scheduled for 40-45 Days; where in these runaway children are provided with all basic facility of Food, clothing, accommodation along with the well designed training programs which are conducted by various experts and professionals.First week of the Camp Focuses on Inculcating discipline, and social adaptability.

As these children have stayed in completely unsecured environment during their street life, they develop a perception of being away from any other person as that person can harm him. Casual Interaction and sharing of food, eating together all these basic things results good in terms of creating a bonding among the group, so that they stay together as one family.

 This basic activity helps the child to recollect his days with own family, also helps him realize the need for returning Home.

Second Week of the Camp focuses on teaching the child; differences between good and bad. Being overexposed during the stay on platform, and that too without a parental control impacts a lot in terms of morality. We help the child understand the difference between good and Bad along with ethical behavior and how to be human. Since the child have been always being treated inhumanly during the street stay.

Home Placement:

              This is a unique activity, where in we send the Child Back to their Families, who had run away from the home due to some or the other reason. The Home Placement process Involves counseling of the Child once identified, Locating the Family and getting the background, counseling the parent before handing over the child, and follow up with the family at a regular interval. Wherever we find the family condition to be improper for the child development due to financial crunch, with the help of local Voluntary organization, we set up a linkage for further support of the family.

Home Placements are done for Children from Three sources

•       Home Placement for New Child
Whenever our team identifies a new child at the Platform, we get the legal formalities done and counsel the child to know his family details. Our team then locates the family and counsels them before handing over the child to them, so that the family should accept the child in a proper manner to ensure his bright future.

•      Home Placements through Manparivartan Shibir

Home orientation is one of the major aspect covered under the Camp, where in various sessions are organized which makes the child feel Importance of Family and staying with parents. As a set structure, the family details are taken from the child, and the same is then validated by our network organization. During the fifth week of the camp, parents are invited and after the brief counseling sessions, their child is handed over in a public function with a celebration.

•       Home Placements of Child kept at Child Observation Home

After a brief study, we had found that their have been instances were the order has been issues by the authority to send the child back to his Districts Children Observation Home, but due to various reasons that child is forcibly made to continue at the Mumbai Children observation home. At Samatol, we identify such children, whose such orders has been issued. After an initial counseling session of the child we get to know about his readiness and willingness to go back to his family. Accordingly legal formalities are completed and at our own expense, our team takes that child to his Home Town Districts Children Observation home, and then locates the family, counsel them and handover the child to the family.

2.7)       Statistics of home placement:

During the period April 2007 to June 2011 the data is as follows:

    Total no. of children contacted on platforms  - 5000

     No. of home placements done  - 1144

                             Through Camp  -   501

                                      Direct  -   555

                   From Remand Home  -     88

Interaction With Police Officers:

As per the Government norms every Police Station should have a Designated person on the profile for child office, who especially handles the cases where ever a child in involved.

A frequent Interaction with such police officials are organized Zone wise, where in some case studies are shared by samatol and group discussions are conducted.

We also arrange for Experts in Child Psychology to guide Police officials on how to handle such child. As Police officials are the vital factors of the society, hence we convince them for a good social mentality to handle street children responsibly.