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Annual Report- 2016-17

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Mughalsarai

Khurda PuriBhubaneswar

Berhampur

Darbhanga

VijaywadaPune

Bangalore

Mumbai

Hyderabad

Visakhapatnam

Varanasi

KanpurAllahabad

Lucknow

GuwahatiPatna

New & Old Delhi

Kolkata

Raipur

Tirupati

SATHI PROJECT LOCATIONS (2016-17)

RAILWAY STATIONS

GOVERNMENT CHILDREN HOME

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It has been a promising and rewarding year for Team SATHI maintains and we continue to maintain our dedication and commitment for the well-being of each child we meet in our work!

We are elated that we could reach 10, 000 children and more in this year. Our presence on platforms is more effective-thanks to local collaborations, the stabilisation of ‘Railway Childline’, access to open shelters and so on. We continue our efforts to document the adventures of the children we meet and our video library offers 60 rich cases. Our MIS and data capture systems have been strengthened to keep

up with this increased scale. It has been our constant endeavour to improve internal systems to coordinate work over the length and breadth of the country.

We continue to highlight the specific needs of railway children, advocating expanded presence in remaining uncovered railway stations of India. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is now seeing the need for open shelters especially for railway children as the next logical link after Railway Childline.

We are indeed privileged to enjoy the trust and support of our distinguished donors - individuals like Mrs.Sudha Murthy, Mrs.Yasmeen Premji and grant makers like Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives. We have begun receiving funds from the national government at Visakhapatnam and the governments in different states such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

We have benefited greatly from the supportive environment that has emerged for the cause we cherish.

The Honourable Minister for Women and Child Development Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi and her team have been highly encouraging and supportive, swiftly removing any hurdles we come across from time to time. Dignitaries like the Honourable Ministry of Railways Shri. Suresh Prabhu, and Shri. Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi visited our Family Reunion Program and Home Orientation Camps.

A Kannada movie based on SATHI’s work named ‘Railway Children’ has been winning laurels in the national and state film awards. We also received a ‘Gold certificate’ from Guide Star India.

We rely very much on the Police support–both on platforms and in address tracing. With improved technology we hope to make this link stronger in the coming year. We hope to continue our work on this scale and deepen our work especially in the areas of counselling and de-addiction.

We thank Railway Protection Force, Government Railway Police, Child Welfare Committee, State Departments and Ministry of Women and Child Development for their support.

We seek continued support and cooperation to improve the lot of children who need it most.

Dr. Lalitha Iyer

Chairperson

From the Chairperson’s Desk

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SATHI – Vision, Mission & ObjectivesVisionA safe, secure and nurturing environment for lost, runaway and separated children to grow holistically with self-confidence, self-worth and dignity.

Mission

To create a safe and secure environment for runaway children rescued from railway platforms in Sathi ‘s shelters, Govt. Homes, institutions and other NGO shelters and protect children from been ignored from possible abuses. Also to reunite the run away or separated children with their families and address the causes that leads them to run away with an aim to prevent them from repeating the behaviour.Objectives To rescue, protect and assist runaway or separated children from railway platforms and

restore them in a safe and secure environment conducive to their growth, preferably with their families in a timely manner so as to minimize their exposure to risks including abuse, violence, addictions, crime and the vagaries of street life;

To explore the possibilities of a qualitatively better environment, free from abuse for children staying in government and non-government institutions within their families and rehabilitate them accordingly;

To offer psychological and emotional support to children who are victims of substance abuse, habituated to running away from home or are displaying deviant behaviour and explore avenues for mainstreaming with society;

To work with the State & Civil Society and advocate towards enabling an effective child protection system in India that is responsive and sympathetic to the interests of the child;

To build knowledge and evidences regarding issues of missing or runaway children including reasons, risks, rehabilitation measures and related qualitative aspects to evolve good practices in the domain of child protection.

SATHI Compliance under following statutory compliances

Karnataka Societies Registration Act of 1960 FCRA Registration 12 A registration of Income Tax80G

registration of Income Tax

Registered in NITI Aayog registration

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GLIMPSE OF SATHI IN 2016-17

Funding of INR 3.8 croreTata Trusts, Azim Premji

Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI), Azim Premji

Foundation, E & Y, Infosys Foundation, Save the Children, Railway Children, ICPS (Govt. scheme-KA, MH, ND, UP, BH,

AP)

Partnered with 15 NGOs

across locations

Sathi worked in 18 major

railway stations in 9

states

8516 children restored with their

families 1584 children sent

to institutional care

10,100 children rescued from platforms by 61 staffs

150 family reunion

programs organized in co-ordination with

senior Govt. authorities.

597 children restored with their families from 28

Govt. Children Homes

Conducted 7 Home orientation and

de-addiction camps involved 176 children. 120

children restored through these camps.

Physical follow up studies of restored children, across 6

locations, covering 380 children, 96%

retention

200 children identified needy

and provided with education

support

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CONTENTS

Sl. No Name of the Chapters Page Number1 Reaching out to Children at Railway Stations in

India01

2 Care and Protection at Shelter 06

3 Guidance, Motivation and Counselling of Children

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4 Tracing Addresses 14

5 Restoration & Family Reunion Programs 17

6 Home Orientation & Removal of Substance Abuse Camps

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7 Engaging with Govt. Children Homes 27

8 Follow ups of Restored Children 33

9 Studies and Analysis at Sathi 37

10 Advocacy & Networking 44

11 Data Management & MIS 48

12 Funding Partners of Sathi 50

13 Governance & Administration 52

14 Sathi in Media 54

15 Awards & Recognitions 55

16 Accounts Statements 56

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”Initial days of rescue at Varanasi platform was challenging as it took time to receive permission for outreach work. As a result, GRP, RPF and Childline could not support SATHI much. It was

difficult to make even general diary entries. However, after few months of working, during one of the monthly meetings at the railway station, SATHI stood out for its work in rescuing maximum number of children. From then

on, SATHI has been receiving positive support from the authorities. They are our guests during celebrations at shelter and during our family reunion

programs. We thank them for their support.”

Anima Das, Street educator at Varanasi. Rescued more than 400 children in one year

1. Reaching Out to Children at Railway Stations in India

A child being spoken at the railway platform

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In this year, Sathi worked in 18 major railway stations Across India. The ‘Outreach’ team at Sathi, comprised 4-5 members who monitor railway stations for 8-9 hours in a day. The team focussed on immediate rescue of children arriving at the platforms. Most of these children

had runaway from their homes, hostels or workplaces, and early and quick rescue of the children prevented losing children to uncertainties or a degrading platform life.

a. Rescue work of Sathi in 18 major railway stations (9 states of India)Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, UP, Bihar,

West Bengal,Odisha, A.P, Chhattisgarh

In this year, 10, 100 rescued children were provided with care and protection. The graph shows the number of children helped at each location.

*Rescue drives at non-project locations

Rescued children are bought to Sathi shelters or referred to NGOs or Govt. Homes. We thank support of NGOs and Govt. Homes for their support to these children.

Along with regular outreach work, we conducted ‘Rescue Drive-Early Interventions’ at project and non-project locations of Sathi. The interventions included 12 staffs and volunteers working in shifts of 12-14 hours, thus ensuring rescue of higher number of children in a day. 926 children were rescued from 40 rescue drives at 31 project locations and 9 non-project locations in this year.

b. Movement of rescued children 10, 100 children were rescued from railway stations and referred to Sathi (5403 children) collaborative NGO (2166 children), other local NGO shelter homes (2059 children) and Govt. Children Homes (308 children). 164 children were handed over to family at the platform at which the children were found.

10,100 children rescued in 2016-17

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5403 children

Brought to Sathi

shelter

2166 children

Referred to NGO shelters in

collaboration with Sathi

2059 children

Referred to local NGO

shelters

308 children

Referred to Govt. Homes

164 children

Handed over to family on

platforms

The total rescued children included 100 girls. In particular, at Berhampur, where 64 girls were rescued between Jan-Sept 2016, a high number in comparison to any other project location.

Majority of the girls found at the railway stations were alone, and had not informed their parents. The girls had moved away from their homes to find work in the neighbouring states. All the girl children were referred to Govt. Children Homes.

Sabitri, influenced by relative for work had travelled 90 kms away from home

Sabitri had three sisters and two brothers, all of whom were young. She is the eldest studying at an Odiya medium school in 8th std. Her parents worked as farmers at Gajapati district.

Sabitri was influenced by her relative to accompany with her to work at Goa. She left home without informing her parents. She travelled 90 kms away from her home and reached Berhampur railway station. It was here that we met Sabitri. Sabitri was rescued and restored back with her family.

Now, Sabitri is continuing her studies and walks 5 kms to her school every day. Her parents are happy to get their daughter back and trying hard to support her for her education.

c. Support from Govt. Officials and Others on Railway stationsIn 2016-17, SATHI partnered with‘Childline India Foundation’ to operate ‘Railway Childline’ 1 at Visakhapatnam railway station, since October 2016.

Sathi continues to receive support from GRP (Government Railway Police), RPF (Railway Protection Force) and Railway authorities at various stages of its work. Sathi also continues to receive their constant support for daily dairy entries of rescued children, counselling, address tracing of parents and thanks them for their regular support and co-operation.

1 ‘Railway Childline’ is an initiative of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, for ‘Children in

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At Kanpur station, Government Railway Police (GRP) provided lunch, to all the children rescued from the platform by SATHI.

At Allahabad, we have received a small room at the railway station for counselling of children. Similarly, at Delhi, we have been given permission to use a room at the RPF station for counselling of children.

Other than Govt. authorities, vendors, coolies and general public also help Sathi at the platform. Sathi remains grateful to each one of them for their support in helping the needy children.

RPF Helps Rescue 11 Year Old Aditya

On 4th August 2016, a young boy named Aditya Rath was seen wandering alone at Berhampur railway station. Staff of Railway police force (RPF), Mr. D.E. Rao spoke to the boy. Aditya said that he was travelling to Pune to get medicines for his father. Aditya seemed to be from a well-to-do family. However, his story was not very convincing so he was brought to the Railway Police Station. SATHI at Berhampur, was intimated. SATHI brought Aditya to the shelter and he revealed why he had run away. He was overburdened with his studies and wanted some relief. He got out of home to ride his bicycle when he was persuaded by a stranger to accompany him to the railway station. The young boy obliged. SATHI contacted the father and they were reunited. It was a moment of joy to see Aditya go back to the safe environment of his home.

d. Situation of Runaway Children at Major Railway Stations in India in 2016-2017

I. Table-1 provides an estimate of the number of children who could be helped with different organisations at eight railway stations. The comparison of approximate inflow of children versus the number of children helped is skewed. Only 30% of children are being helped. This percentage of help remains to be the same or even lower across all the 60 major railway stations of India.

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GRP, RPF

Others

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Table 1: Estimated number of children who could be helped at eight railway stations

Railway Stations

Average inflow of Children Per Month

at Platforms*

No. of Children Helped by SATHI and Other

Organizations

No. of children Who are still Uncovered

per MonthOld Delhi 750 120 630New Delhi 900 200 700Kanpur ,UP 240 70 170Patna, Bihar 300 130 170Kolkata, WB 480 150 330Varanasi, UP 240 120 120Allahabad, UP 210 70 140Bhubaneswar, Odisha 180 50 130

Total 3300 910(27%) 2390 (73%)

(Rescuing remaining 30% children at railway stations of India is a matter of concern)

II. A few years ago a minimum of 30-40 older children were found on the platforms in Bangalore. Over the years that number has clearly come down and today we find almost none such children in Bangalore. Reduction in numbers is because of attention and sensitization about such children by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and also changing set up. Presence of many NGOs on the platforms and efforts towards these children by Railway Department has further helped in addressing this issue. However, such older children are still found in North India. Also, older children who have stayed in platforms for a longer duration are usually addicted to substances. Regular intervention of bringing these children to shelter and counselling them is not an approach that works. They need a longer and more intensive intervention. At railway stations, these addicted and older children have poor access to focussed interventions. However, Sathi referred 10 highly addicted children to Disha, NGO in Patna.

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2. Care and Protection at Shelter

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Major Interventions at Shelter

Children rescued from railway stations

a. Sathi shelters Sathi shelters are temporary in nature. The shelter in-charges ensure that the shelters are clean, have a healthy atmosphere and exhibit patience to deal with unruly children who have been in difficult situations. Rescued children were sheltered at around 40 shelters, 11 of which were Sathi run shelters. Details of children at shelter homes are mentioned at Table 2, 3 & 4.

Table 2: Rescued children at Sathi shelters

Locations No. of children at SATHI shelters in

the year

Funding supporting 2016-17

New Delhi 802 Railway Children, EY, ICPS (Govt.), APFMughalsarai, UP 174 Save the ChildrenKanpur, UP 874 AzimPremji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI), ICPSVaranasi, UP 1003 Tata TrustsAllahabad, UP 457 Tata TrustsPatna, Bihar 311 APPIDarbhanga, Bihar 186 ICPS (Govt. scheme)Pune, Maharashtra 379 ICPS (Govt. scheme)Yeshwanthpur, Karnataka 469 ICPS (Govt. scheme)Visakhapatnam, AP 352 Tata, Railway ChildlineBerhampur, Odisha 447 Tata TrustTotal 5454*

* 0.6% of children dropped from SATHI shelters

90% of children stayed at SATHI shelter for a maximum of seven days. 73% children stayed for 1 to 4 days, 18% stayed for 5-7 days, 8% for 8-20 days and 1% for more

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Sathi is grateful to its funding partners and Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS)2 of Ministry of Women and Child Development in supporting Sathi shelters , as well as the Department of Railways for its help in providing space to run Sathi shelters at Yeshwanthpur and Pune.

Table 3: Rescued children at Sathi’sformal collaborative NGO shelters

Formal collaboration with Locations No. of children at Collaboration shelters in the year

Salaam Balak Trust (SBT) Old Delhi 625Child in need Institute(CINI) Kolkata 737Street Kids Community Village (SKCV) Vijayawada 271Society For Children (SOCH) Khurda, 142

Bhubaneshwar, 322Puri 69Total 2166*

*5% of children dropped from collaborative NGO shelters

Table 4: Rescued children referred to local NGOshelters from platforms

Locations Name of NGOs No. of children referred at project locations

Delhi Prayas, Samarth, Subhakshika 253Patna Rainbow, DORD, Asian SahyogSanstha, East & West, DISHA 425Kolkata Railway Childline 487Varanasi Asian, Prayatn, Asmita, AghorPeeth 9Allahabad ManavKalyanSevaSamti,

Gramvothan, Jan Sevasamiti, Jagvanti Devi Gram VvikashSevaSamiti157

Raipur Sankalpa 382Vijaywada SKCV, Navajeevan 160

Visakhapatnam Generation YUVA 2Berhampur UtkalBalashram 11Bhubaneshwar Ruchika 138Puri 2Total 1915

This year Sathi referred rescued children from platforms to existing open shelters run by other NGOs at various locations. A total of 2059 children (1915 at project locations and 144 at non-project locations) were sheltered with the support from Local NGOs. We thank them for their support.

b. Activities and events at shelterYoga classes, Drawing sessions, Story-telling sessions, Extra-curricular activities, outdoor games are regularly conducted for children at Sathi shelters. Festivals like Independence Day, Holi, Diwali etc.

2 Open shelters under Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, caters to all children in need of care and protection.

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& Birthdays of children are celebrated at Sathi shelters. This year, computers were installed across our locations for engaging children.

c. Donations at Sathi sheltersISKCON donated free lunch for children at Yeshwanthpur, Bangalore and New Delhi. The Sai Temple, Delhi provided free food for once in a week. GOONJ at New Delhi provided food material, games material, clothes and musical instrument. At other locations, many individual donors donated money, kitchen items, food, games material, clothes, blankets, bed sheets. Sathi thanks donors from locations, for their concern towards children found at railway stations.

Table 5: Individual donors at various locations who helped Sathi

Old DelhiMr. R.K. Lakra, Mr.Jitendra, Mr. Ashok, Mr.Ramesh Chandra, Mr.Narendra Malik, Mr.R.K.Rana, Mr.Sandeep, Mr.Wasim, Mr. Bilal, Mr.Nawab Aalam, Mr.Tajeeb, Mr.Safik, Mr.Sanjay

New DelhiMr. S. Sanyal, Mr.Sumit Bose, Mr.Vinod, Mr.Diwakar Jha, Mr. Rajiv Dhar, Ms.Anshu Tyagi, Mr.Kulbeer Singh, Mr.Shampa Lal, Mr.Pradhan, Mr.Jagmaan, Mr.Ashwani, Mr. A.K Dhimaan, Dr.Sarla Mukherjee

YeshwanthpurMr.Vishwanath, Mr.Pradeep Naidu, Mr.Ashvarya

PuneMr.Sandip Khiritakar, Mrs.Raje Mr.Dhangekar, Mr.Pacharne, Mr.PandurangPawar

KanpurMr.Sheelwant Singh, Mr.Indrajeet, Mr.Kallu Ram, Mr. Rajeev Verma, Mr.Daya Ram, Mr. Vijay Kumar

PatnaMr. V.N. Kumar, Mrs.Nutan Kumari, Mrs.Suman Devi, Mrs.Rekha Kumari, Mrs.Renu Devi Mrs.Janki Gupta, Mr.GhoseJee

BerhampurMr.DP Brahma, Mr.B.Bairagi Patra, Mr.AmiyaTripathi, Mr.Subhash Chandra Dash, Mr.Sarangi, Mr.Bisoi, Mr.Babu, Mr.Roman Nayak, Mr.Munna, Mr.Tutu Behara, Mr.Gyanendra Narayan Ratha, Mr.PS Sarkar, Mr.OM Prakash , Mr.Manas Das, Mr.Purshottam Paik

VaranasiMr.Rameshwar Puriji Maharaj (Annpurna Trust)Mr.Charu Chandra Tripathi, Mr.Rachit, Mr. Rajeev, Mr.Nishant Gautam, Mr. Rajeev, Parents of Sonu. Aditya, Irshand, Tanish, Arfat

VisakhapatnamMr.Phani Chandra, Ms.Esha, Mr.Tarakeswar Rao, Mr.Narasinha, Mr.Damodhar, Mr.Suryaprakash, Mr.Manmada Rao, Mr.Malleswar Rao, Mr.Maheswar Rao, Ms.ValliNani, Ms.Pyditalli, Mr.Srinivasrao, Mr.Kantarao, Mr.Murali, Mr.P.Sanyasirao, Mr.Krishna

AllahabadMr.Rajendra Vishwakarma, Mr.Kalawati Devi, Mr.Lokmarhi Patel, Mr. Chandra PrakashMr. Manoj Kumar Singh, Mr.Umesh Shah, Mr. Raj Narayan, Mr.AbhishekVerma

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3. Guidance, Motivation and Counselling of Children

“As a counsellor, I always wondered what made young children run away. Now, I understand children have problems at home and they decide ‘in a moment’ to solve the problem by escaping from it. These children are full of energy and need to be guided. A guide can help them face their problems and channelize their energy in constructive ways.”

- Vandana Mishra, Counsellor, SATHI, Kanpur

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Among the rescued runaway children, major reasons for children to leave their homes include,

I. Work related - ran away from workplace,II. City Attraction - ran away toexplore new cities,III. Family issues - dysfunctional families, separated parents, etc.,IV. Education related problems - disinterested in studies, attending tuitions.

Scolded for laughing during prayer time, an angry boy left hostel

Rushikesh was a 14 years old child studying in 9th std at a hostel. He belonged to a very poor family and his parents had admitted him in a free hostel. One day, Rushikesh was scolded and beaten by his hostel teacher for laughing during prayer time. An angry boy and scared boy had decided to run away from hostel. He was rescued at Pune railway platform. At shelter, he shared of not going back to his hostel. Frequent counselling made him realize about the triviality of the issue and importance of education. Slowly, the child agreed to go back to his hostel. Teachers agreed this was a mistake.

a.Complexity of cases and efforts by counsellorsAround 20 counsellors, most of whom are female graduates trained on job, worked across locations and counselled more than 6500 children this year.

Most of the children could be motivated in 1-2 sessions. In only, 5% challenging cases, counsellors needed more than three interaction sessions.

84%

14%

2%

Nature of Cases

Simple with singluar issuesand resolved throughmotivation and guidance

Complex, needing multiplesessions and intenseinvolvemnet

Professional help sought

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b. Type Interaction sessions with Children

Child Expresses Emotions through Drawing

Shaikh was a14 year old boy who was forced into rag picking by his mother. He didn’t like it and was beaten when he avoided doing the job. The boy decided to run away from Delhi to Kanpur. Shaikh was rescued from Kanpur station and brought to the shelter. The child was made comfortable. He was fed well and given a clean set of clothes to change into. As the child relaxed, the counsellor interacted with him. It was a drawing session on ‘Emotion Based Memories’ that helped the counsellor understand the child’s problem.Happiness: Shaikh drew a place where he felt happy to visit. Angry: He drew an image of his mother and his step-father. Fear: He was scared that he would be forced into rag picking Bad Memories: His place of stay at Delhi where he worked.The child wanted to live with his maternal grandmother instead of his parents. So, his maternal grandmother was called and we witnessed a happy reunion. On being contacted, the grandmother said the child was happy at home with her.

c. Interaction with parentsIn 90% of cases, parents seemed to agree to Sathi’s assessment of child’s reason of runaway, problem and how they should deal with the problem. During follow up of children restored, it was heartening to see a marked change in how parents treated their children after counselling.

A father who has become caring and loving towards his son

On Jan 2017, we met a 12 year old boy named Alsihan at Varanasi railway platform. Alishan was from Bhadoi, Uttar Pradesh. He lived with his father, step-mother and two brothers. All the boys studied at a Madrasa in Allahabad.

Alishan’s step mother was not very fond of the boys. She would never visit the boys at the madrasa and not warm when the boys returned to home. It was only the father of the boys who would visit them at the madrasa. But he too would never escort them to home. Once when Alishan returned to home from Madrasa, he was left to sleep outside in the cold. This was the first time Alishan ran away from home. Since then, the young boy has been repeatedly running away from his home.

In the beginning, 60% of the children tend to share wrong information about themselves and their parents. Also, in 90% of cases children share a different reason for running away from what their parents share. This requires various methods to facilitate interaction with children. Some of the most frequent methods used are

• Individual and group counselling• Story-telling and moral sessions• Non-formal education session like name of colors, animals, fruits etc• Group activities like playing carrom, antakshari• Drawing one’s favourite person, place, dream etc• Letter writing to favourite person, parents

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In the remaining 10% cases, parents did not accept our views on the possible reasons of children having decided to run away. However, SATHI believes in following up on all cases for a period of 6 months to 1 year.

A rebellious Utpal and adamant mother has left us with one choice of constant follow ups

17 year old Utpal was rescued from New Delhi railway station on 30th Dec 2016. He was from Aurangabad, Bihar. His father was a security guard and mother was a house wife. A young Utpal was rebellious. He wanted to be a singer and was not interested in studies. Instead of this, his parents would insist Utpal in concentrating more on studies and not to pursue singing further. There were constant fights between Utpal and his parents especially his mother. It seemed Utpal had grown distant from his mother and did not share the same warmth as his mother. After four days, Utpal shared his family’s contact number and his parents were called at the shelter. His father came to the shelter and was relieved to find Utpal safe. His father did agree about being supportive. But after a month when we called up, we found Utpal to be still unhappy at home. He had dropped from school and his mother still seemed unhappy with Utpal and his behaviour

d. Professional help on counsellingMs.Gangandeep Kaur, Clinical Psychologist from Unique Psychological Solutions, New Delhi, helped us in developing a manual on ‘Various Practices of Engaging with the Child in 2016-17’ Ms.Kaur said,“I appreciate SATHI’s work in guiding the ‘forgotten and less cared’ children of the society. The dedicated staff and their genuine concern about the children is what pushes me to keep helping SATHI. My advice to SATHI is to have a few counsellors in their team, with a background in Psychology. This would help the practising counsellors to handle the cases, especially the difficult ones, better. Alternatively, the developed manual and a minimum of 2 training sessions in a year for each counsellor would be helpful. In addition to this, frequent sessions on ‘case discussions’ with participants from various organizations would enrich the learning experience and help in handling the ground situation better by SATHI counsellors.”

With repeated counselling, Alishan shared his mobile number and his father was requested to come to Sathi. Alishan’s father was very happy to see his son. We shared with his father about the problem Alishan faced at home and the love and care that Alishan craved for. Father was emotional and agreed to keep his son with him. Finally, after five days of rescue, Alishan returned back to his home. We have been regularly following up with Alishan’s father and brother enquiring about Alishan. Now, the boy stays with his family and is studying in a private school near his house. His father is caring and trying to convey his love and care to the child. Step mother is kinder now. The boy too is less irritated of step-mother.

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4. Tracing Addresses

A child drawing about major railway stations from his home

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I n 74% of cases, children were the primary sources of basic information, e.g. village or town of address, landmarks to reach the place, so on and so forth. With this basic information and help from other sources like police stations, Gram Pradhans (Village Heads), partner NGOs, Google

Maps and social media, Sathi ensured that these children get home safely.

In cases where the children did not divulge details, multiple sessions of counselling were required. In some cases, parents had moved away from the said address and that caused delay. In some cases, the child was not of sound mental health and could not inform Sathi staff where they had come from. Sathi also had cases where the contact numbers of the family provided by the children were unreachable. In 11% of the cases, the Sathi team visited the child’s home to verify the details.

Using the Internet to Take a Mentally challenged Child Home

117, Shakurpur was tattooed on the hands of a 10 year old, Monti, who was rescued from Kanpur railway station. He was a quiet child and mostly resorted to gestures as a means of communication. The tattoo seemed like an address and the staff tried to search for Shakurpur in around various districts of Uttar Pradesh. The efforts were futile. While speaking with the child again, the staff noticed that he had another tattoo that faintly looked like the letter ‘D’. It struck the team that he could belong to Delhi and they contacted the Delhi Police. It took 11 days of relentless efforts to find the boy’s address. The team could contact his mother and she was relieved to hear about her son. She told the staff about her son’s mental health and promised to be careful from then on. We salute the mother.

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Landmark Visit by Team Sathi

Abhilash had stayed at Govt. Children Home at Saidabad, Hyderabad, for a year. The 10 year old could only share vague information on a landmark near his house, a Sai Baba temple at Sithaphalmandi. Sathi staff contacted Chikalguda police station located half a km from Secunderabad railway station. However, despite many efforts, the police could not trace the address. Finally, Sathi staff visited Sithapalmandi and managed to locate the Sai Baba temple. With the help of locals, Sathi found the place where the child’s parents worked. The owner of their workplace was kind enough to lead the staff to Abhilash’s parents. The team spoke to them over phone. The happy parents arrived at the child welfare committee office. The family was reunited in April 2016 much to the joy of all.

CWC finds a Runaway, Sathi Sends Him to family

Suraj was 10 years old and his mother decided he was old enough to go to the shop alone, buy vegetables and come back responsibly. So she gave him 100 rupees to buy vegetables. But alas, Suraj had other plans. He boarded a train from Delhi seeking adventure and landed in Nashik. The local police rescued him from the street and referred him to the Observation Home at Ahmednagar. Once he was transferred to Delhi, the CWC, Mayur Vihar, contacted Sathi to trace the child’s parents. Suraj did not remember much. Sathi gathered from his records that he belonged to Naibasti in Paharganj, a locality in Delhi. The team took Suraj there but he could not help much. The Sathi team began its search and located Naibasti in Ghaziabad. Suraj vaguely remembered a few landmarks. Using the information they could gather, Sathi contacted the local police at Shahidabad. They, in turn, connected with Hindal Police Station. A constable, a few locals and Team Sathi’s extensive search helped the boy reunite with his parents after two and half years. The parents, CWC and the locals lauded Sathi for their efforts. Suraj’s father said he planned to put his son in school the following academic year.

Constant attempts and persistent search operations still left us disappointed

A 16year old Pooja Thakur was contacted on Oct 2016 at Allahabad Girls Govt. Home. She had left her home at the age of 6 years. In the first counselling, Pooja mentioned the name of her village as ‘Bela’. Staff was familiar with the famous Belamandir at Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh. We contacted police station and tried to search for the village and registered missing complaints. We did not find any. In the second counselling, Pooja mentioned about her maternal aunt who stayed within a distance of 2-3 hours from Allahabad. We tried to search again through contacting police stations at Allahabad but could not find any such village. In the third counselling, she mentioned another landmark as ‘Phoolpur’ but this too did not lead us to any success. In the fourth attempt during group counselling, her style of speaking seemed to resemble that from Bihar. Wide speaking led us to another address as ‘Bela village in Una Block’. We searched and did found Bela village in Una block. This time, we also found a man with similar name as Pooja’s father in the same village. We contacted the person in a hope of having found Pooja’s father. But there was another disappointment. This person had never lost his daughter. Despite of persistent honest attempts, we did not succeed in tracing Pooja’s home. Now, Pooja still stays at the same Govt. Home.

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5. Restoration & Family Reunion Programs

“A caring shoulder can alter the future of a child”

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In the year 2016-17, 8516 children were reunited with their homes. Among the restored, 5947(75%) children were directly restored from SATHI shelter, camp and with collaboration of NGOs. Remaining 25% children were restored with the efforts of the other NGOs.

Table 6: Restoration of Children in 2016-17 from different shelters

Children Restored From No. of ChildrenSATHI Run Shelter 4151Govt. Homes by SATHI counsellor 597Home Orientation Camps conducted by SATHI 120Collaborative NGO shelters by Sathi 1676SATHI Referred Children at Other NGO Shelters 1972Total restoration 8516(78%)

It was particularly heartening to witness restoration of 75% of children of the 2585 children referred to local NGO shelters from Sathi. Sathi congratulates all the NGOS for their efforts in sending run away children back home.

a. Analysis of restoration criteriaSATHI recognizes that reasons for child to be reunited with family are subjective and differ in degree of intensity from case to case. Since June 2016, the counsellors’ assessment at Sathi is recorded using a Likert Scale. The observations are then converted to a decision-making score that provides a basis for analysis. A sample of 4310 children was analysed using Goonjan, a cloud based MIS, thus helping the counsellors decide whether the children can be restored back to their homes.Of these 4310 children,

• 3650 children could be reunited with families • 429 needed to be referred to other institutions• 194 needed to be referred to Govt Homes• 37 where no clear decision could be made as they included who escaped from shelter and children who were referred to camp.

Table 7: Distribution of Assessment of Restoration Criteria (in percentage)

Criteria for restorationPercentage of children

Strongly agree

Agree Can't say Disagree Strongly Disagree

Total percentage

C.1 Child is willing to go home 57.0 36.3 6.0 0.5 0.2 100C.2 There is at least one parent/guardian at home to take care of the child with affection

46.4 43.2 9.7 0.3 0.3 100

C.3 Child has space and opportunity for growth/learning at home

41.3 47.4 10.6 0.5 0.3 100

C.4 Basic needs of the child are met(food, shelter, protection & health)

42.9 47.1 9.6 0.3 0.2 100

C.5 Real reason for separation is identi-fied and addressed

40.4 48.5 10.3 0.5 0.3 100

C.6 There are no chances of repetition of separation

34.8 47.6 16.3 0.6 0.7 100

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• In 93% of the cases, the child had a willingness to go home. In 7% child either could not make up mind or refused.

• In 90% of the cases, there was at least one parent/guardian at home to take care of the child with affection.

• In 89% of the cases, there was space and opportunity for the child to grow and learn. • In 90% of the cases, the basic needs of the child such as food and shelter were met.• In 90% of the cases, the counsellors felt that the real reason for the child’s separation was

identified and addressed to substantial extent.• In 83% of the cases, the counsellors felt that the child will not repeat the behaviour and in

another 16% of the cases the counsellor was unsure. Sathi’s experience has shown that most children can be restored to their. In the year 2017-18, SATHI will follow up and connect with the children who have been home placed this year, to ascertain if the decision making restoration scores were indeed accurate. The follow up will surely throw light on the quality of restoration, and indicate assessment of the child’s growth and quality of life post restoration.

b. Difficulties in Restoration of Children• It is hard to engage mentally challenged children in a conversation and hence tracing their address comes difficult. • Majority of children who have stayed in Shishu Griha (Govt. Homes for children up to 6 years of age and then transferred to Govt. homes remember very less about their parent’s homes. Tracking their address is a challenge.

Little Sanjay escorted from Chennai to Aligarh

Sanjay, a 6 year old, boarded a stationary bus at a marriage near his house in Aligarh. As the bus reached Delhi, one of his relatives recognised him. His relative made him board a train to Aligarh, UP. But a restless Sanjay got off the train in the middle. He boarded a wrong train to Chennai, instead. The railway police at Chennai rescued and referred him to BalKamraj Trust, an NGO based in the city. The boy spoke in Hindi and the people at the Trust picked up the name of his village Detavali, while he spoke. Having as little information the trust contacted the DCPU of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Luckily a staff at Aligarh recognized the village as Chetavali in Aligarh, UP. Sanjay’s family was traced but his father was unable to come to Chennai and take Sanjay home. Thus, CWC at Chennai transferred the child immediately to the CWC, Aligarh. BalKamraj Trust was unable to escort the chid and requested SATHI to escort Sanjay. In October 2016, SATHI staff accompanied the boy gladly. The staff did their due diligence by checking on the child’s father. He was with his other three children. The mother was no more. The father was happy to pick up his son from the Govt. Home at Aligarh.

c. Family Reunion ProgramsAround, 15-20 parents per program were invited and unified with their children. 149 such programs were organised across locations in the year 2016. Officials from Department of Women and Child, CWC members, police officials, organizations, academicians, railway authorities and individuals working with children were invited to these functions. These were emotional events. It was extremely fulfilling to see children finally leaving for their homes with their parents. The invitees were convinced of the need to rescue and repatriate.

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In one such programs, in November 2016, Shri. Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi was our Chief Guest at New Delhi.

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6. Home Orientation & Removal of Substance Abuse Camps

Children in a meditation activity at the camp

Drawing and craft by children at different camps

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Children away from families, living for longer duration at platforms, become victims of bad habits like substance abuse and develop negative feelings about reintegrating back with families. A structured and long term intervention was designed for such children in 2001

with the help of Fr. George Kollashany, DON BOSCO and Dr.Shekhar Sheshadri, NIMHANS Bangalore. This was a 30 day residential camp on ‘Home Orientation and Removal of Substance Abuse Camps’. Camps were conducted at locations away from hustle and bustle of city life and/or at Govt. Children Homes. A team of 4-5 members stayed with the children during the period.

Since 1992, Sathi has conducted 260 camps at different locations; comprising 5804 children have participated. In this year even camps were organised. 176 children rescued from platforms and those staying for more than 3 months at Govt. Homes participated in these camps. Among the children at camps this year, 60% of children were repeat runaways while 40% were addicted to substance.

Table 8: Details of camps Conducted in 2016- 2017

Sl. No.

States No. of Camps # of children Enrolled in the camp

Re-Settlement detailsHome placed Staying at

GCH1 UP 3 75 48 272 Delhi 2 47 36 113 AP 1 26 23 34 West Bengal 1 28 13 15

Total 7 176 120 56

SATHI was successful in tracing addresses of 81% children involved in camps. Of those whose addresses were traced, 93% of children were reunited with their parents or families. The remaining 7% were staying at Govt. Homes. 10 children who were staying back at Govt. Homes were either refused by parents or relatives. The children had run away multiple times, had stealing habits, and did not listen to their parents. In some of the cases, parents were too poor to take care of their children, and even relatives refused the children who were orphans or deserted by their parents.

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A child motivated from camp to return to his family

Bheemsen was contacted by Sathi at Kanpur railway station on 12th July 2016. He was 14 years old. At shelter, Bheemsen was sad. He hesitated to speak about his family and would introduce himself as ‘Arjun’. Despite of many attempts, the boy did not open up. Finally, within 6 days, he was referred to Govt. Children Home at Kanpur. After 5 months, in December 2016, when Sathi organised a camp at the same Govt. Home, Bheemsen was also chosen.

Camp schedule was different from shelter. Activities like yoga, games, group activities ensured involvement of all the children. Bheemsen too could not avoid it. He took time, but soon began to participate. It was during one of the story telling sessions about ‘Parents are God’ that made a difference. As children started sharing about their families, the story telling session grew emotional. At the end, Bheemsen broke his silence. He was sobbing.

The next day, Bheemsen began to share his journey away from his home. His real name was Bheemsen and not Arjun. He belonged to Basti village in Gulmi district of Nepal. His father was a farmer while his mother was a home maker. One of his brothers was working in Malaysia, another brother was working in Punjab and his sister was married. Bheemsen was studying in 5th and was also enrolled in tuitions. His father was particular about his studies and would often pressurize Bheemsen to be regular at school and tuitions. The child missed playing with his friends and one day, bunked his school. When his father discovered this, he beat Bheemsen. An angry Bheemsen, stole Rs. 2000 from home and left. He travelled 250 kms by bus to Ridhi in Nepal. At the bus station, Bheemsen met a man who extended a helping hand. A scared Bheemsen agreed and went with the man. Bheemsen was forced to do household chores at the man’s house for 11 months. When Bheemsen shared of returning to his home, he was refused. Finally, he ran away and reached Gorakhpur, U.P where he worked in a hotel. But with less money and food, Bheemsen ran away with Rs. 500 within 15 days. Bheemsen reached Kanpur station and spent two days before being rescued by Sathi in July 2016.

Earlier, Bheemsen was scared about facing his parents with his runaway stint, so he would not open up. But now, he shared his school teacher’s contact number through which his family was informed. His uncle came to take Bheemsen on 1st Feb 2017. He was elated to meet Bheemsen and also shared about the difficulties in searching the boy. Bheemsen too was emotional on meeting his uncle. He came to know about his father’s demise and regretted his decision of running away. On March 2017 we telephonically checked on Bheemsen, he was studying in 6thstd.

Refused by his uncle, Golu is still at Ramnagar Govt. Home

Golu Jaiswal was from Dahitpur village in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. His mother had remarried after the death of Golu’s father. Eventually, Golu’s mother had also expired. His step father was not interested in taking care of Golu. So Golu was forced to live with his maternal uncle. Golu studies till 3rd standard and dropped out of school. Golu’s uncle would force him to do household chores and would be beaten up if he refused. A frustrated Golu ran away from home when he was nine.

SATHI met Golu at Ramnagar Govt. Home, Varanasi on November 2016 when he was 13. Golu shared his story of running away thrice from his uncle’s home. He had lived on platforms for three years, stayed at Lucknow Govt. Homes for 6 months and now, was staying at Ramnagar

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Govt. Homes from past 8 months. Being a repeated run away, Golu was involved in the camp on Nov 2016. At the end of the camp, Golu shared details of his village and nearest police station (Saraiya Khwaja). Police helped in connecting to village Pradhan and Golu’s maternal uncle was traced. Golu’s step father could not be traced and so his uncle was called. But his uncle refused to take the responsibility of Golu. His uncle shared of Golu’s repeated run away as one of the reasons for not taking Golu back. Now, Golu is still staying at the same Govt. Homes.

Lost, Addicted, Reunited, an Eight –Year Ordeal

Rohan was a young boy from Assam. His family migrated to Delhi in search of work. His parents were labourers. Rohan had studied till 5th in Assam but did not continue his studies in Delhi. Left alone at home, he was bored and ran away. He moved among stations of Delhi, Allahabad, Kanpur and Varanasi. Living on the platform, Rohan was addicted to substances. Soon, he forgot his family. He was rescued by railway police at Allahabad and referred to Allahabad Govt. Home. He lived in various Govt. Homes till he reached Kishalaya Govt. Home at West Bengal in September 2014, even managing to escape from some of them. His journey between platforms and Govt. Homes had exhausted him. Many efforts were done by NGOs and staff at Kishalaya Govt. Homes tried to trace Rohan’s family but in vain. The child had spent 3 years at the same Govt. Home when SATHI met him. In December 2016, Rohan was included in a 1-month Home Orientation Camp. Initially, he tried to disturb the sessions, but slowly began to participate in the activities. In one of the sessions called ‘Remembering my family’ Rohan had a sudden burst of emotions. He remembered his family and desperately wanted to go back home. After helping him remember the name of his village, he said Boroibari, which was traced to Dhupri district in Assam through internet search. With the help of Dhupri police, we were able to contact the village Pradhan of Boroibari. He made announcements in the village and finally Rohan’s father was contacted. He came to Kishalaya and met his son after 8 years. The father said he had been looking for his son desperately in Delhi. The boy and his father were happy to go home. Rohan has been trying hard to get over his addiction and he keeps in touch with the camp teacher regularly.

a. Highlights/New initiatives of the camp• 8 women, who were mothers, volunteered to speak about the importance of ‘mothers’ and

families in general at Kanpur camp. At the same camp, 10 children from ‘Dr.Viren Swaroop Education Centre‘, a school at Kidwai Nagar, visited the camp. School children engaged the children at the camp with games and recreational activities.

• Department of Women and Child Development of Uttar Pradesh conducted various competitions for children from 16 Boys and Girls Govt. Homes, U.P. The competition was on the occasion of Children’s Day and held at Varanasi Govt. Home. 15 children from Varanasi camp participated in group dance competition and received Rs. 5000 as 1st prize.

• Four boys referred by Superintendent of Kishalaya Govt. Home to the camp, witnessed a big change and they were reunited with their parents. This time and again proves why such camps are needed. Superintendent of Kishalaya Govt. Home invited SATHI team for lunch in appreciation of their efforts in restoring the children from Govt. Homes. We thank Kishalaya Govt. Home for their kind gesture.

• The Superintendent of Govt. Home, Chairperson and members, CWC, and members, IAS Officers, Members of Juvenile Justice Board and Dignitaries from Organizations working

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with children, graced us this year with their presence at camps in different locations. It was extremely gratifying to have Shri. Suresh Prabhu, Honourable Minister of Railways, at one of our family reunion programs at Delhi. He says, “Watching the little ones getting reunited with their families was a very emotional moment for me and at the same time joyous.”

b. Help from Govt. Officials• Varanasi Camp: SATHI received help from District Probation officer (DPO), Superintendent

of Govt. Homes and the team of Govt. Homes. The officials helped in getting permission for the location where SATHI organized the camp. DPO of Varanasi and Superintendent of Ramnagar Govt. Home were frequent visitors at our camp, giving and suggestions which benefitted the children. Sathi is grateful for their support.

• Kanpur Camp: District Magistrate of Kanpur Mr.Kaushal Raj Sharma provided us with the place for camp. Chief Medical Officer of Kanpur, Mr. Ram PratapYadav through a written letter ordered ‘Nagri Prathmik Swasthya Kendra’, Kidwai Nagar for free medical check-up and supplied medicine for children. Sathi is thankful for their concern and support towards children.

• Kishalaya Camp: Superintendent of Kishalaya Govt. Home, Mr. Malay Chatterjee was very co-operative. We were supported in house visits during address tracing by Govt. Home staff. Mr.Amit, cook at the Govt. Home also took good care of the children at the camp.

In the last 20 years Sathi has seen the impact of camps on children. The components and activities of the camp have had a cumulative effect on bringing change in children. Moreover, when children witness emotional changes within, it becomes easier for them to express their feelings in a trusted group. The effect of these camps was also felt when one of the observers from the Govt. Home named Saiman Hansda was reunited with his parents after 30 years.

Dreams Do Come True

38 year old Saiman worked as a cook at the Kishalya Govt. Home. He had separated from his family at the age of 8 while taking a wrong train from his hostel. He was rescued by GRP and referred to Kishalaya Govt. Home. Saiman stayed at the Govt. Homes and finished his 10th at a nearby school. After 18 years, he started working as a cook. Two years back, he married and started living in a rented place.

Saiman liked camp activities by SATHI and was a keen observer. It was the moments of sharing about families by children that made Saiman emotional. His hidden desire of possibility of meeting his family resurfaced. He faintly remembered the name of his village. Through Google, the village named Hironpur Bazar in Durgapur was traced. The district police, and village head helped trace the exact address of Saiman.

His father has now expired but 12 members from Saiman’s family came to receive him. His old mother stayed numb in disbelief looking at her son. Saiman had at last realized his dream.

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LETTER FROM DR. A.K. SINGH, DIRECTOR OF PANAH NGO, KANPUR REGARDING CAMP

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7. Engaging with Government Children Homes

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SATHI began its work at Govt. Homes in the year 2000. Counsellors from SATHI work with children staying in these Govt. Homes, trying to send children back to their homes. These include:

a. Children who have stayed for longer duration (more than 3 months)b. Children who do not wish to go back homec. Children who wish to go back home but their home address has not been tracedd. Children who are addicted to substance

This year SATHI worked at 28 Govt. Homes (14 Govt. Girls’ Homes, 13 Govt. Boys’ Homes and one Children’s Home), with 6 Govt. Homes being SATHI’S first time intervention.

1798 children were counselled and addresses of 55% of children were traced. Addresses of 20% children could not be traced and tracing addresses of 25% of children is progress.

a. Restoration of children from Govt. Homes597 children (414 boys and 183 girls) from 28 Govt. Homes were reunited with their families this year with the help of 15 staffs working at the Govt. Homes as counsellors.

States No. of GCH worked # of children counseled

# of children

address traced

#of children restored

Boys Girls Shishugrah

Maharashtra 3 2 0 158 92 69Telangana 1 1 0 204 151 97AP 2 2 0 283 140 67UP 3 3 1 377 244 159Assam 1 1 0 114 55 26Patna 1 1 0 166 111 94Raipur 1 0 0 14 09 07Delhi 0 1 0 15 08 02West Bengal 1 3 0 467 172 76Total 13 14 1 1798 982 597

Table 9: Children restored at Government Homes

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39% who could not be reunited, 20% of them were refused to be accepted by parents, 8% of children were referred to Govt. Homes of other states as per the order of CWC and 10% of children stayed back at the Govt. Homes where they were initially sent to. The children, who stayed back at the same Govt. Homes despite having their address traced, were the ones whose parents or relatives did promise to come, but never turned up. Of the 20% of children who were refused by parents or family members, majority were orphans. Some of them were voluntarily admitted to the homes by their parents and a few had to stay on as their mothers were single and could notafford to take care of thechildren.

Six Years in Govt Home, SATHI Traces Soni’s Home

SATHI met 16 year old Soni at Liluah Govt. Home, Kolkata on 29th August 2016. She was rescued by railway police and referred to Liluah Govt. Home on 15th November 2010. Her address could not be traced and so she had been staying at the Govt. Home for the past 6 years.

Soni vaguely remembered that she belonged to a village named Karm. SATHI counsellor began giving Soni a list of village names beginning with ‘Kar’. Most of these were in and around Jharkhand. When the counsellor mentioned Karmanal, Soni recognized it. After a month of intervention, Soni’s family was traced on 21st September 2016. SATHI spoke to Soni’s mother and she was thrilled. She had lost hope of finding her daughter ever again. She came to pick up her daughter up and was in tears. After 6 long years at The Govt Home, Soni is now back home with her parents and siblings at Karmanal, Jharkhand. Unfortunately, her father is paralyzed. Soni and her mother work in fields and support the family. They have bonded well and are each other’s support.

Sathi has been working at Boys and Girls Govt. Homes in Lucknow, Kanpur, Kolkata and Allahabad for more than 2 years now. SATHI and these Govt. Homes have developed a healthy rapport and a collaborative work culture. We thank the Superintendent, Govt. staff and CWC at these locations for their support.

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After 8 Years at Multiple Govt Homes, Babitha Finally Goes Home to Her Mother

Babitha was 5 years old and stayed with her maternal aunt in Mumbai for her education. One day, while going to her school, Babitha lost her way. She was rescued by railway police and referred to Bhiwandi Home in Mumbai. A young Babitha could not reveal much about her exact address. But GCH staff guessed that she belonged to Uttar Pradesh. After a year at the Govt. Home, she was referred to Allahabad Shishu Griha. Once she completed 10 years, she was shifted to Govt. Girls Home at Allahabad. She was studying in 6th std when SATHI contacted her at Allahabad Govt. Home on April 2016.

As the counselling began, Babitha drew pictures of a temple and mentioned it as Vidhyanchal Temple. The counsellors were familiar with the temple and identified the place as Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh. After a couple of sessions Babitha recalled the name of her village as Suraiya. The staff contacted the Mirzapur police station and Mr.Ajit Singh confirmed the details were correct. The village was well known as Langdakpur but also called Suraiya. SATHI in no time traced the family. Babitha’s mother and maternal aunt came to receive their daughter on 28th April 2016. They were overjoyed to meet her after 8 years. Her aunt shared her ordeal on how she had filed an FIR at Ville Parle, Mumbai. It was a moment of relief to see a loving and caring family reunite with their lost daughter.

b. Restoration of Children from Govt. Homes by Govt Home Staff and other NGOs

Govt. Homes also put efforts in counselling children and attempting in reuniting them with their families. Also, there are NGOs other than Sathi doing similar work on restoration of children from Govt. Homes.The total number of children helped at these Govt. Homes with their combined efforts is represented as a pie chart.

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Efforts of Govt. Home Staff Bear Fruit

Najmun Hussain was from Mihiran village in Kolkata. He has run away several times before. Upon rescue, he was brought to Kishalaya Govt. Home. Staff at the Govt. Home spoke to Najmun. He revealed that his parents were separated. He was with his mother. The mother would often travel to Mumbai on work leaving him under his grandmother’s care. The 13 year old boy added that he liked to roam around and was adventurous. He dropped out of school after 4th standard. The staff at the Govt. Home persistently motivated Najmun to return to his home. Eventually, when Najmun was convinced, he shared his address. Najmun’s grandmother was contacted and the staff visited his home. They spoke to his mother and grandmother. They were thrilled. Najmun’s mother had returned from Mumbai and was elated to know about her lost son. The staff convinced Najmun’s mother not to leave him with his old grandmother. On July 2016, mother and son were reunited much to everyone’s happiness.

• The staff at Tirupati Girls Govt. Home arranged for the marriage of three orphan girls.

• At Varanasi Govt. Home, three children who were above 18 years of age were motivated to reunite with their parents.

• A 14 year old girl named Jamuna from Allahabad Govt. Girls Home, participated in a district level dance competition organized in Lucknow by Govt of Uttar Pradesh. She won Rs. 10, 000 as 1st prize for her performance.

c. ChallengesThe Govt. homes are doing a good job. The superintendent and staff are very co-operative with us when we go there for helping children. The general impression that Govt. Children Homes are prisons and children are brutalised by staff, children go hungry-is not true. Yes, they are not ‘ideal’. There is peer bullying etc.

• Restoration of Children from Other Districts: Even if the parents of the child arrive with valid documents, the CWC does not hand over the child to the parent. Instead, it refers the child to the CWC of the district where s/he belongs. As a result, some children stay out of home for longer duration. Similarly, there are instances where some parents of children are unable to provide legal documents to claim their children. Such circumstances involve a lot more effort in helping parents collect the document and follow up with the CWC for restoration of the child.

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Delay in Procuring Document Delays Reunion

SATHI contacted Firoj at a Govt. Home in Kolkata on 15th Feb 2016. Firoj’s parents were separated and his mother remarried. She left her son under her mother’s care. Firoj was one day scolded by his grandmother’s sister. An upset Firoj left home alone. Firoj reached Belgachiya railway station and was rescued by Railway Childline. He was referred to CINI (an NGO working at the station). After 3 months, he was finally referred to the Govt. Home in Kolkata on 14th Oct 2015. Sathi staff was able to trace the village where Firoj lived. All the information regarding Firoj’s village was shared with the Staff at the Govt Children Home. SATHI hoped the boy would be sent back home.

After six months, on August 2016, SATHI revisited the Government Home and was surprised to find Firoj still there. The boy’s mother could not produce a legal document to claim Firoj as her son. SATHI began its work on helping the mother procure the document from his village. Finally, on October 2016, mother and son were reunited. By this time, one year had passed since Firoj was separated from his family.

The mother and son now live together at Berabery village, Kolkata. Firoj is in 3rd standard. He is very fond of his grandmother and visits her often.

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8. Follow ups of Restored Children

Education support to a child while visiting their house

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SATHI regularly conducts follow ups of children for a year after their restoration. It helps in understanding the pace of their reintegration. Follow ups are of two kinds, namely, telephonic follow ups and physical visits to the homes of restored children. Telephonic follow ups are

done for every child. The first call is made one month after restoration. The second and third call follows after 3 months and 6 months of the first call, respectively. This year telephonic calls were made to 6000 children restored from shelter, camps and Govt. Homes. SATHI was able to contact 67% of children and the remaining 33% could not be contacted.

Table 10: Children contacted through Telephonic Follow up

LocationReunited with fam-

ily

No. of children telephonically followed up

Not contacted Contacted

Number of children among those contacted

Staying with family

Runaway again

Expired

Sathi Shelter 4151 4151 1244 2907 2846 58 03Collaboration shelter

1676 1219 554 665 658 06 01

Govt. Home 597 597 153 444 434 10 00Camp 120 120 34 86 73 13 00Total 6544 6087 1985 4102 4011(97%) 87(2%) 04*

*3 children from Kanpur and 1 child from Puri have expired, so sad to state.

Location Staying with family

Staying at homeStudying working Idle

Sathi Shelter 2846 1757 346 743Collaboration shelter 658 442 103 120Govt. Home 434 204 147 83Camp 73 27 13 26Total 4011 2430(61%) 609(15%) 972(24%)

Table 11: Status of the children who were telephonically contacted during the year

b. Physical Follow upPhysical follow ups of around 380 children across 6 locations in Berhampur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Mughalsarai, Patna and Visakhapatnam was done. During physical follow ups, SATHI learnt that 2% of the restored children have migrated to other places. 96% of the remaining children continued to stay or be in touch with their families. Of these, 97% stayed at home while 3% stayed away but were in touch with their families.

Among those in touch with families, 59% of children were staying at home studying and 25% were working either nearby or away from home. 16% were idle at home.

a. Telephonic Follow up

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Runaway Turns NGO Volunteer

Neeraj ran away from home when he was 13. His father and brother abused him verbally and often said, ‘leave home’. Neeraj, ran away and was roaming on Mughalsarai railway platform. SATHI spotted the boy wandering alone and asked him what he was doing there. Neeraj was quick to respond and share his tale of woe. SATHI counseled him on how important family is and things said in anger do not mean much. Neeraj understood and shared his address with the staff. SATHI contacted his parents and he was reunited with his family.

On 20th March 2016, during a follow up, SATHI was happy to see Neeraj enrolled at an English Medium School, Bhagwanpur, Varanasi. He is good at studies and has also joined as a volunteer in an NGO (Yuva Samiti) in his village. The villagers are very pleased with the boy’s progress. Neeraj’s sister-in-law, Mrs. Chandra Kala Devi shared with SATHI about how Neeraj helps the villagers through the NGO. She appreciated SATHI for counselling him and reuniting him with the family. She credited SATHI for the positive change in the boy.

Neeraj’s father is a milkman and mother, a house wife. The family is financially stable. Neeraj is the youngest among his siblings and his family now encourages him to study well. Neeraj has big plans. Besides his school and volunteering, he also attends classes in computers. Neeraj has indeed made SATHI proud!

Sathi visited house of K. Kalyani in Berhampur, Odisha. She is now studying in 2nd std.

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From the Surveyors…….

“We were happy to meet children at home and with their families. However, it was a concern to meet few children who are yet to realize their mistakes. Though they have caring parents yet they choose a life of addiction and waywardness. These children have given up studying and are idle. It seems parents have to put in a lot of time and effort into their welfare, but to no avail.”

Prasoon and Abhishek, Surveyors, Mughalsarai

“It was a learning experience for us. We met children and their families. It helped us in understanding better about the problems at home.”

Rajveer and Rohit, Surveyors, Kanpur

“This was the first time a physical follow up was done at the Kolkata cluster of SATHI. My learning was to document the exact and complete address of each child and to have as many alternate contact numbers as possible. Also, we met a few parents who were rude to us. They said they are capable of taking care of their children and SATHI need not worry about their children anymore.”

Sumendra Shaw, Surveyor, Kolkata

“We saw positive changes among parents and children. These changes have come gradually and it was gratifying to experience them. The best part was when children recognised us and came running to greet us. This gesture of affection from children meant a lot.”

Nihal, Kanchan, Aman, Rakesh, Anshu, Nitish and Amit,

Surveyors, Patna

“We visited the remote villages of Odisha. Children spoke in different dialects, had various food habits and had a lifestyle still unknown to us. These families are extremely poor with limited employment opportunities and debts to pay. Thus, girls are moving out to find work. However, we did find a few children who are now continuing their studies despite their difficult situation. One of the girls walks around 5kms daily to her school.”

JoshlinPanigrahy and Kamal Pradhan, surveyor,

Berhampur

“We wanted to know how children have reintegrated into their families. It was gratifying to see when children looked happy and welcomed us to their homes. It was a moment of satisfaction when we provided educational help to those in need. Now, 18 children been provided with help are continuing their studies. We wish them luck!”

Malati, David, Ravi and Naidu, surveyor, Visakhapatnam

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9. Studies and Analysis at SATHIa. Care Plan for Restored ChildrenIn India, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, subsequently amended in 2006, 2010, 2015 mandates that the decision taken with regard to rehabilitation of children must include a ‘care plan’ for the child and a follow up on the child’s progress.

In order to explore answers to Questions such as ‘What kind of situation demands a care plan and how intense should it be?’ a study was conducted to understand the issues and develop guidelines.

• A document on current care plan practices using 25 children restored from SATHI’s shelter at Yeshwantpur during June 2016 was prepared.

• Based on the observation of the study, guidelines for preparing and implementation of ‘Designed Care Plan’ were drafted.

• Phase 1: Drafted care plan guidelines were implemented for 52 children rescued from SATHI’s Yeshwantpur shelter, between 1st August to 15th September 2016. The guidelines included:

i. Factors determining the care plan action ii. Type of care plan actionsiii. Procedural aspects of care planiv. Information check list while preparing care plan for the childv. Care plan action template to record the suggested care plan and phase of action taken by the implementer

• Based on reviewed experience and analysis of adequacy of guidelines, new guidelines were framed.

• Phase 2: New guidelines will be used and care plans will be prepared in 5 locations covering all children in the period of 20th January to 31st March 2017.

b. Study on Children Home Placed, Ten years back (2005-06)A study on status of children reunited with their families in 2005-06 was conceived in 2016-17, 10 years since their home repatriation. The purpose was to know how responsible the children had become towards themselves, their family and society, and understand the long term impact of ‘rescuing children from platforms’ and ‘reuniting them with their families’.

144 cases from Bangalore and Wadi in Karnataka, and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh were identified. 120 addresses could be located. 15 families had moved out and were not traceable. Sathi established contact and met 105 families, in which 2 children had run away, and unfortunately 6 children were not alive. Of the 95 children met, one child was physically challenged and was not employed; one child was serving time at Raichur jail. The pie chart shows the occupation of 93 children.

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In cases where the children did not divulge details, multiple sessions of counselling were required. In some cases, parents had moved away from the said address and that caused delay. In some cases, the child was not of sound mental health and could notinform Sathi staff where they had come from. Sathi also had cases where the contact numbers of the family provided by the children were unreachable. In 11% of the cases, the Sathi team visited the child’s home to verify the details.

From Platform to Police Station

I used to live with my grandparents at Muchukota, Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh. My grandfather, Obala Reddy has about 4 acres of agricultural land. He was supporting me with the income he received from his land.

I was 15 years old back then. I was repeatedly punished at school for not doing my homework. I just ran away from home. I managed to reach Tirupati railway station and spent a whole day on the platform. I was scared and soon enough repented my hasty act. My poor grandparents! They had lost all hope of finding me.

SATHI staff noticed me roaming on the platform and took me to their shelter in Tirupati. I was counselled and reunited with my grandparents. I remember Mr.Balakrishna from SATHI very well. He helped me a lot.

The time I spent at the shelter was quite memorable. I played with the other boys there and sometimes I cooked too. Once I returned home, I vowed never to run away again.

I, Manoj Venkatarao Reddy, have since completed my graduation and I am a Sub-inspector of Police in Delhi. I truly hope I made my grandparents proud, and am extremely thankful to SATHI for finding me, and helping me rebuild my life.

From a Liability to an Asset

My son Tirumala was all of 12 and was in 6th standard. He was severely reprimanded by his teacher for not doing his homework. Unable to bear the insult, he fled home.

He boarded a train from Tadapatri and alighted at Tirupati railway station. He did odd jobs on the platform to sustain himself for about 3 days till SATHI spotted him and took him with them.

A week later, I received a call saying my son was in SATHI’s safe custody. My joy knew no bounds. I reached the shelter and met my boy. He was very scared and realised running

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away from home was a big mistake. He told me how he had suffered on the platform. He was counselled by the staff at SATHI.

My son continued his education on his return. I requested his teacher to be a bit gentle with the boy. Tirumala has since completed Diploma in Electronics and he is earning Rs. 12,000, a month. He is getting married soon. I thank SATHI for turning my son from a liability to an asset.

Today, I Bhaskara Reddy, am a proud father and I am always excited to meet anyone from SATHI.

c. Study on the Rehabilitation of Girls Children from Govt. Children Home, Kanpur by BBL Srivastava, ex-CWC Chairperson of Kanpur

During his two terms (From 2004 to 2010) as Chairperson of CWC at Kanpur, Mr. BBL Srivastava, had focussed on restoration and rehabilitation of children at Govt. Homes and especially girls staying at Kanpur Girls Govt. Home. In 2016-17, Mr. Srivastava helped these girls by providing them with various opportunities like vocational training and education support. He also arranged for the marriage of a few girls. He selected 25 girls from Kanpur Govt. Home for vocational training and education support between 2008-2013. A few girls stayed at the Govt. Home and undertook training. A few others were sent out to their training locations. Now, these girls are above 21 years and have long moved out of Govt. Homes. After completion of their training, 10 of the 25 girls have got married. Thanks to BBL Srivastava who helped them find grooms and also convinced the parents of girls who had found partners for themselves, to accept their choice.

After 2 years of completion of the 2-year vocational courses, Sathi conducted study on rehabilitation of the girls helped by Mr. Srivastava. The study wasconducted between 30th July and 12th Aug 2016. 5 staff members were engaged in visiting their houses. Sathi established contact with 20 of the 25 girls. 12 girls were given nursing training, 6 girls were trained to be on beauticians and tailors. 1 girl trained as an eye technician and 1 was given educational support.

63%

37%

Income per month 6000-8000 within 5000

80%

20%

Engagement of 20 girls Working Idle

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Income per Month6000-8000 with in 5000

Engagement of 20 girlsworking idle

6000-8000

with in 5000idle

working

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2 out of the 20 girls were in contact with parents or relatives. 2 of these girls were voluntarily admitted to Govt. Home because of poor conditions at their home. Both these girls were employed and were in touch with their families. 8 of the 16 girls who were employedwere also simultaneously pursuing their graduation.

8 girls were married and settled with their families. 2 of the girls were divorced, of which, one girl stayed with a family that she was employed with, while the one girlwas independent and lived alone. 8 unmarried girls were independently employed

75% of the girls had stayed at the Govt. Home for more than 10 years and 15% had stayed for 4-10 years. Had it not been for Mr.Srivastava, the future of these girls would have been unimaginable. This is a true example of how children from Govt. Homes can be reintegrated into families. This is a model with high success rate and Sathi believes that it needs to be shared with CWC and other stakeholders at various Govt. Homes across India.

“After working around 2 years with GCH children, I always thought about girl’s rehabilitation and was concerned about their future. But this study answered few of

my questions. Follow up with these girls filled me with a different sense of satisfaction. It was a happy moment to see girls from Govt. Homes being independent and confident. This gives new hope for people like us working at Govt. Home.”

Sunita Nagar, surveyor at Kanpur

d. Identification of Vulnerable and Needy children in Villages of IndiaIntegrated Child Protection Scheme ensures to provide preventive, statutory, care and rehabilitation services to vulnerable children including children from potentially vulnerable families and families at risk. This year SATHI decided to conduct a survey on identifying needy and vulnerable children in villages of Varanasi and Visakhapatnam. This survey was to find out the number of such children, the kind of help they require and most importantly in linking these children to ICPS scheme. One district each from Varanasi and Visakhapatnam were included in the study. 9 staff and 10 volunteers surveyed 123 villages in 13 days.

176 children from 73 villages of Varanasi and 172 children from 50 villages of Visakhapatnam were identified as needy and vulnerable.

Findings of the study

• Of the 348 children, 201 were boys and 147 were girls• 37% children had both their parents, 50% of children had only one of the parent, 3% of children had parents who were now separated and 10% of children were orphans• 60% children were from very poor background while 40% were from poor backgrounds• 90% of the identified children were below 14 years

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Table 12: Kind of Recommended Support and Those Helped

Sl.No Kind of Recommended Support Number of Children Children Who Were Helped by SATHI

1 Financial assistance towards education or education materials

240 39

2 Residential support like hostel 70 29*3 Re-joining school or college 23 234 Vocational training 5 01

Total 348 92

*In Visakhapatnam, we enrolled 29 children into free Govt. hostels called as BCM hostels. Children are provided with shelter, food, clothes and basic materials for education.

This is a unique survey of voluntarily screening villages in identifying vulnerable and needy children. The number of children in need in just few villages tells us about the many more needy children in villages of different states across India.

A consolidated report of both the studies has been submitted to respective DCPU, CWCs and DWCD. List of vulnerable children have also been submitted twice at Varanasi yet the decision is still pending. Pushing the idea of screening such children across villages and linking them to ICPS is of utmost importance and need of the hour.

Table 14: Studies conducted on ‘Reasons of Separation from families’ by interns from AzimPremji University at Sathi

Study by Place of study

No. of children included in study Observations

Maria Jose Delhi 67 • 76% cases reason of separation is clear• 70% were simple cases• 79% children were from

functional families• 48% parents and 16% friends were among

most responsible for child’s runawayShivani Rawat Patna 60 • Family issues, attraction towards big cities

and peers were the major reasons for a child’s run away

• Only in 18% cases, problems were long term where child and family need to build stronger bonds

• 71% children were from functional families

Akanksha Srivastava

Pune 24 • Majority left their homes because of push factor i.e. family problems

• Counseling of parents during restoration is most crucial

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10. Advocacy and Networking

“Children who leave their parents and run away from their homes often land up in difficult circumstances. Every day, we contact such children – we believe it is an important duty of ours to rstore them to their families. On the stations, there are centres run by NGOs with whom we work so that children can be helped to stay at home in a happy family. If families stay happy, then the nation and the society will remain happy.”

Shri Suresh PrabhuHonourable Minister for Railways

Govt. of India

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The issue of children in contact with railways has caught the attention of the government as well as funding agencies over the last 2-3 years. A standard operating procedure to ensure care and protection for children in contact with railways and the subsequent launching of the Railway

Childline initiative in major railway stations across India are important developments. With this backdrop, SATHI continues to push for certain specific developments that can help more children.

a. Major Activities and Accomplishments of the Year• Engaging with Ministry of Railways

In September 2016, Shri Suresh Prabhu, the Honourable Minister for Railways, visited a family reunion program which SATHI conducted in Delhi. 47 children separated from their families were reunited with their parents. Mr. Pramod Kulkarni, the Founder of SATHI, apprised the Honourable Minister on the scale of the issue and expressed appreciation for the support received from railway authorities all across the country.

• Engaging with Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India (MWCD)

SATHI has been engaging with officials in the MWCD on a wide range of issues. These include support and guidance to run Open Shelters for railway children, allow multiple NGOs to work on stations where Railway Childline is available. On February 16, 2017, SATHI met with Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Honourable Minister for Women and Child Development. Issues like running open shelters across 60 locations need of a mother NGO, proposals for running open shelters at 5 locations etc were put forth.

In February 2016, SATHI was selected by Department of Social Welfare, Govt. of Bihar to run an Open Shelter for Boys in Darbhanga. Grants were received in August 2016 and the shelter has been operational since September 2016.

• Engaging with Childline India Foundation

In October 2016, SATHI was selected as a partner organization of the Childline India Foundation to run Railway Childline in Vishakhapatnam. The selection process was carried out by CIF in the months of June – July, 2016. During the same time, SKCV, the organization with which SATHI has been collaborating since February 2016 was also selected to run Railway Childline in Vijayawada.

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• Engaging with State Governments

• Events and Workshops

I. Ministry of Railways organized a seminar titled 'Neki Ki Rail' on the 23rd, March, 2017. The event was a conference of NGOs, CSR representatives of PSUs under Ministry of Railways, officials from the Railway Board, consulting organizations and other stakeholders. The event was inaugurated by Shri. Suresh Prabhu, who spoke on the commitment of Indian Railways towards society. At the end of the event, a 3-minute video of the Honourable Minister speaking on the issue of children on railway platforms was screened. This event is looked upon as the beginning to develop a concerted plan of action to exploit the vast potential of Indian Railways for a social cause.

II. Roundtable Consultation on Child Protection, Delhi

In December 2016, a round table consultation on Child Protection was organized by Tata Trusts in Delhi. The purpose of the consultation was to understand and identify key issues and gaps related to child protection.

The consultation saw nearly 30 participants including Prof. Shanta Sinha, Dr. PM Nair, representatives from UNICEF, National Law School University, Childline India Foundation, NGOs and academic research institutions. The session topics included ‘role of state and system strengthening, combating child trafficking, alternatives to institutional care and preventing violence in institutions’. Mr.Pramod Kulkarni facilitated the session on alternatives to institutional care and stressed on the usage of data to frame strategies and make improvements. Some of the key conclusions that were drawn include need for greater supervision of institutions that house children, accreditation of institutions as a quality care mechanism and strengthening of CWCs.

III. State Level Workshop on Care & Protection of Children in Contact with Railways, Bihar, (August 2016)

In August 2016, SATHI, Patna organized a One-day State Level Consultative Workshop on children in contact with railways. This was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare, Govt. of Bihar. The workshop was chaired by the Honourable Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmad Ansari (Patna High Court). Nearly 50 delegates including Child Labour Commissioner, top officials from the Railways, Department of Social Welfare, Govt. of Bihar, Child Welfare Committees and representatives of NGOs from different districts of the state, Mr. Imamuddin Ahmad, Director, Social Welfare Department, Mr. R.K Jha, DRM, Mr. Atul Priyadarshi, DRM, Mr. S.N. Chandran,

Delhi• Mr. Manish Sisodia graced us

in a family reunion program a Delhi in Nov 2016.

• Engaging with Govt. of Delhi and Municipal Corporation and conveying the need of open shelters exclusively for railway children.

Karnataka• Constant dialogue

with ICPS Project Director and DCPU for running open shelter at Yeshwant-pur with a focussed approach towards ‘railway children’.

West Bengal• Engaging with Secretary, Department

of Women and Child Development and Director of Child Rights and Trafficking obtain permission to continue their work. The Department has issued formal permission.

• Commission for Protection of Child Rights, for conducting surveys in different railway stations and a state level workshop on the issue of railway children

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Sr. DSC RPF, Mr. Jitendra Mishra, S.P. (Railways) and Mr. Gopal Meena (IAS) took part in the event. The Honourable Chief Justice stressed on the risks that a runaway child faces at the railway station and suggested that there must a model of inter-dependency where both the government and society should support each other in the interest of the children. Mr. Mukthar-ul-Haque spoke on the complex issues of child labour and trafficking, and the provisions by the Govt. of Bihar to contain and remedy the problem. Mr. S.N.Chandran and Mr. Jitendra Mishra spoke on how RPF and GRP are supporting the NGOs working on the issue. Mr. Imamuddin Ahmad also expressed his concern over the issue and promised the support of his Department.

IV. State Level Consultation on Children in Difficult Circumstances, Raipur (August 2016)

A State Level Consultation on Children in Difficult Circumstances was organized at Raipur by the NGO Samarthan with the support of CINI, Kolkata. Ms. Shatabdi Subodh Pandey (Chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights) and Mr. P.P. Soti (Member of State Planning Commission Chhattisgarh) were the chief guests. SATHI’s work and follow up report of the children who were rescued during April–September 2016 was shared. The report was prepared with the help of Raipur CWC, Sankalp Childline and Bilaspur Childline. Both the chief guests appreciated the efforts of SATHI and promised to support SATHI at Chhattisgarh.

V. Ministerial Meeting of the South Asia Initiative to End Violence against Children, Delhi (May 2016)

The 4th Ministerial Meeting of the South Asia Initiative to End Violence against Children (SAIEVAC) was held in Delhi between 9th and 11th May 2016. SAIEVAC is an international body formed in the year 2005 in South Asia in response to the United Nations’ global call to end violence against children. In the meeting, trafficking and sexual violence against children were identified as common and significant threats across the countries. It was discussed that regional strategy for addressing the abuses needed to be developed, which would include technical cooperation among the countries on helplines and online tracing of information of missing children. Mr. Basavaraj Shali and Mr. Mukesh Kumar from SATHI participated in the meeting.

VI. A one-day consultative workshop on Child Friendly Railway Stations, Raipur (April 2016)

A one-day consultative workshop was organized by UNICEF and Department of Women and Child Development, Govt. of Chhattisgarh on 12th April, 2016. The event was attended by officials from Railways, Department of Women and Child Development, Police and Department of Education. NGOs working in child rights and child protection domains and officials of UNICEF were also present. The main topics discussed included identifying vulnerable children on railway platforms, roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders as per SOP, key learning and best practices in the sector and finally planning a road-map for action. Mr.Pramod Kulkarni, the founder, SATHI, was one of the key resource persons for the event and facilitated the technical sessions.

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Interactions with Shri. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Public Policy Research Centre, Delhi

SATHI interacted with Honourable Member of Rajya Sabha, Shri. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe in Delhi and presented an overview of the situation of railway children in India and policy measures to address the issues. Shri. Sahasrabuddhe advised us to develop a background note on the issue and suggested that a round table be held with concerned stakeholders, namely, representatives from Railways, Women and Child Development Department, civil society and academic institutions. Shri. Sahasrabuddhe is the Honorary Director of Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC) – a policy research and advocacy organization based in Delhi. The round table is likely to be organized by PPRC.

Engaging with Karnataka State Legal Services Authority

SATHI has been engaging with the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority and highlighting the situation of railway children in Karnataka and seeking the attention of the Juvenile Justice Monitoring Committee on the issue. In response, Smt. Uma MG, Member Secretary of KSLSA has suggested that a meeting of the stake holders be held followed by a larger workshop on the issue. The meetings are likely to be held in May – June 2017. A draft note on the event has been prepared by SATHI and shared with KSLSA.

Interaction with Dayaa Foundation, Chennai

Dayaa Foundation, an organization founded by Smt. Latha Rajnikanth is working on a wide range of children’s issues. SATHI was invited to participate at their event, Project Abhayam that specifically focuses on the issue of missing children. In subsequent meetings held with Smt. Latha Rajnikanth and her team, SATHI has highlighted the model of early intervention for rescue and restoration of children on railway platforms. SATHI and Dayaa are exploring opportunities to jointly work in Tamil Nadu.

Stakeholder Meetings and Events on Railway Platforms

Meetings and drives are regularly conducted by SATHI teams on the railway platforms to sensitize the railway staff, local vendors, porters, etc. about runaway children’s issues and their help is sought. Notable stakeholder meetings conducted in the year include: Stakeholder meeting comprising more than 80 participants including railway authorities, porters, vendors, IRCTC staff, RPF SI and volunteers was organized by SATHI, Varanasi.

An awareness meeting with new RPF staff to orient them on the entire process from rescue to registration of the child was conducted at Patna2 awareness meetings on children’s issues were conducted in Kanpur with railway authorities, porters, vendors and auto drivers. In appreciation of our work in Kanpur, GRP has given us space to interact with children and also offer free food for rescued children.

b. Continuing Efforts in Advocacy and Networking

Table 15: A Glimpse of the Regular Efforts to Connect with Different Stakeholders at Various SATHI Project Locations.`

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c. Other Noteworthy Points• Interactions with Senior Officials in RPF: SATHI has heldmeetings with Mr. SK Bhagat,

DG, RPF, Mr. A N Mishra, DIG and Mr. Avasthi and sought support on the issue of allowing multiple NGOs to work together on stations where large number of children arrives.

• Why do Children Run Away? (Dissemination of Studies): In February 2017, we disseminated two studies on assessment of reasons for separation of children who were rescued by SATHI. This was presented to a wide audience including researchers, other NGOs, government officials and concerned individuals. These reports were based on studies conducted by “students of Tata Dhan Academy and Azim Premji University. The documents were well received. After receiving the report, Dr. PM Nair from TISS visited SATHI and had discussions with us on furthering the issue. SATHI explored the possibility of TISS hosting a workshop on the issue of railway children involving all Railway Childline partners.

• Interaction with Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, Honourable Union Minister

In November 2016, we had an interaction with Honourable Union Minister, Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu on Visakhapatnam Railway Station. We apprised him about how runaway and separated children are helped at the station and also invited him to attend a family reunion program.

Community Level Engagements

Most children who arrive on railway platforms come from semi-urban and rural areas. Last year, SATHI made an attempt to reach out to the community to sensitize them on the issue of runaway children and bring awareness on the existing child protection mechanisms. On an experimental basis, we conducted 2 events in Tigaai village, Akbarpur Block, Kanpur, Dehat District, UP and AthmalGola village of Bhaktiyarpur, Patna District, Bihar. These 2 villages had high rates of runawaychildren as per data and hence chosen for the program. Nearly 175 people from 15 villages participated in the program held at Kanpur Dehat and about 30 to 40 people participated in the Bhakthiyarpur event. SATHI invited the local leaders such as Block Pramukh. They addressed the community as resource persons. Using these experiences, SATHI plans to conduct 12 to 15 such events in the coming year.

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11. Data Management & MIS

‘Goonjan’ is a customized cloud based MIS provided by ‘Dhwani Foundation’ to upload and archive the children’s profiles. It has been in use since 2014. This year the usage, monitoring and quality checks in Goonjan has been rigorous.

In 2016-17,‘Goonjan android app’ has been developed to enable real-time feeding of profile of children at the railway platforms.

SATHI’s data management systems have evolved and become robust over a period of time, with the level of data captured per child being exhaustive. This year, Sathi has proposed the system to be adopted and used by multiple organizations working in the same field. Towards this, SATHI has demonstrated the entire process and its benefits to different organizations including funding agencies and consulting organizations including Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, Dalberg, Mumbai and IFMR (Institute of Financial management & Resource, Chennai). Sathi is in the process of examining if the process and model can be adopted or integrated with Childline’s data capture process, especially in locations where Railway Childline has been started.

a. Child Profiles, Report generation and Analysis• Revised templates for capturing data in Goonjan begun since June 2016. • 8000 children helped by Sathi in 2016-17 have been captured in Goonjan. • Classification of reason of separation into further 7 broad categoriesand 50 sub-categories.• Likert scale ranging from ‘Strongly agree’ to ‘Strongly disagree’ was used to capture counsellor’s assessment on ‘subjective’ topic like ‘Capturing the decision making criteria of restoration’.• Automated analytical reports were generated through Goonjan.• Analysis of 1, 100 profiles of children helped by Sathi in Dec 2015 to Aug 2016 in Yeshwanthpur, Pune and Delhi were done. 30 data points were used. • Analysis of 1,971 children helped by Sathi from June 2016 to September 2016 from 14 locations was also done.

b. Quality MonitoringChild profiles entered across locations were checked centrally for information gaps and data quality issues since Nov’16. A monthly quality report containing a list of erroneous or suspect entries was generated. The report is also accompanied by a ranking of locations – the locations with the least gaps and errors are ranked higher. There was a significant dip in the number of erroneous entries.

c. Khoya Paya PortalSATHI has started entering details of found children in the Khoya Paya portal provided by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Govt. of India. In 2016-2017, 1245 entries were made by SATHI on the portal.

SATHI has received calls enquiring about the entries made in their portal Khoya Paya. Given below is one such email received on 2nd September 2016 at SATHI, Varanasi.

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From: <nic-missingkids@nic.in>Date: Fri,Sep2,2016at8:47PM

Subject:Khoya-PayaPortal-RequestforContactTo: sakshee.SATHI@gmail.com

Dear SATHI VARANASI,

Based on your report on the Khoya-Paya Portal, Mahesh Chand wants to contact you. Please contact on mobile number 9690109964 or on email rohitkushwah404@gmail.com.

Regards,Khoya-Paya Portal

SATHI thanks KhoyaPaya portal for monitoring the entries.

d. Looking AheadOur focus in the coming year with respect to data management and MIS will feature the following

• Continued emphasis on quality of profiles through constant monitoring and feedback• Working with partner / collaborative NGOs for deploying common process for collecting child

profile information and uploading on Goonjan• Bringing data capture through Android app into regular practice• Automated analytical reports to be generated from Goonjan

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12. Funding Partners of Sathia. Long-term Funding partners (Strengths of Sathi)

Infosys Foundation

2005-Continuing12 years

Tata Trusts

1997-Continuing20 years

Azim Premji Foundation

2009- Continuing8 years

Our funding partner ‘Save the Children’ helped us in running ‘Mughalsarai project’ for a year in 2015-16. 700 children were helped through their support. We thank them for their support.

Our funding partner ‘Railway Children , UK helped us for 12 years. We thank them for their support.

We thank our Individual donations through Give India and direct transfers to SATHI have also helped us in raising Rs. 5.7 lakh. We thank them for their support.

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b. Expenditures in 2016-17• Programmatic Expenditures (84%):The expenditures includes

I. Shelter related expenses like food, cloth, medicine and transport expenditure for children, Non Formal Education (NFE) and entertainment materials, shelter rent and maintenance.

II. Camp expenditures include accommodation, food, NFE and camp activities materials, salary of camp teachers, any resource persons.

III. Additional support to children like education support, travel from shelter to home

IV. Salaries and benefits include salaries of programme team, Employment Provident Fund (EPF), Gratuity Fund, Medical claim.

V. Advocacy related expenses VI. Capacity Building includes 2% of programmatic expenditures

• Administrative Expenditures (16%):The expenditures includes

I. Office rent and maintenanceII. Administration travel like official visits, travel and meetings III. Printing and stationaryIV. IT/Website, software maintenance like Tally, GoonjanV. Salary of accountants, and Audit expenses

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a. SATHI’s Annual General Body Meeting was held on 22nd June 2016 at New Delhi.

Mrs. Nirmala Murthy and Mr.Vinod Furtado had expressed their difficulty to continue as board members due to other commitments. Mr. Sumit Bose, Mr.Vikas Maniar, Dr. Mukund Das and Dr. Daisy Narain had sent their nomination to be a member of the Society which was unanimously accepted in the meeting. In addition to the above, the Audit Report was submitted to all the members and the financial statements for the annual filing of returns to Registrar of Societies were approved by the board along with the appointment of Mr. Chidambar Chikkerur (Partner at M/s HR Koppar & Co) as auditor for the year 2016-17. The new Governing Board was elected for the period 2016 – 2018.

13. Governance & Administration

• Governing Body Meetings

Date of meeting Place of the meeting held

Members attended

Major issues discussed

7th June 2016Governing Body

Bangalore 6 Proposal to operate Railway Childline in major railway station

22nd June 2016 New Delhi 7 Work done and achievements during 2015-16

25th November 2016 Bangalore 6 Brief Presentation on progress for the period April 2015 to October 2016

Annual General Meeting at New Delhi on 22nd Jun 2016

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b. Staff Trainings Staffs at Sathi are encouraged to attend various training programs within and outside the organisation. Interested and talented staffs are recommended for various educational programmes like Management courses, workshops on improving sector knowledge etc. Staffs are also encouraged to enrol and complete their graduation courses while at work.

Training Programs Topics, conducted by and place of trainingInternally within Sathi

• Orientation on Planning and Implementation of Project Activities at Bangalore by Seniors at Sathi

• Challenges of MIS, Orientation on Goonjan regarding mismatched data, missing information and other queries at Bangalore and Varanasi by Mr. Rohit Shetti

• Health and hygiene at Varanasi by Dr. Rajeev Dar• Accounting Practices at Bangalore by Mr. Chandramouli KM

Externally by other resource persons

• Community Facilitation Program at Lucknow by ISABS• De-addiction training at Patna by Ms. Minakshi Bhat, Ms. Rita,

Ms. Anju and Mr. Ashutosh• Capacity building of outreach staff at Uttarakhand by ‘Railway

Children’• ‘Imagining Development: From Vision to Action’ at Bangalore, by

Azim Premji University• Counseling Skills, methods and process at Visakhapatnam by

Dr. Raju, Andhra University• Counseling Skills, methods and process at Delhi by

Ms. Gagandeep Kaur, ISI• New Amndments in JJ Act and CWC Functioning at

Visakhapatnam by Mohd. Raqueeb and Mr. Hussain,CWC members

• State Level consultation on children in difficult situations atRaipur by Smt. Shatabdi Pandey and Mr. PP Soti

• Management and Leadership Skills at Varanasi by Ms.Naziya Khan• Children in difficult circumstances, Child Rights and JJ Act at

Raigarh by Mr. Hridesh Sharma, PO of UNICEF, Delhi• Child Right and JJ Act at Bilaspur by Chairperson of SCPCR• Strengthening JJ system and policies of child care institutions at

Chhatrapur by DCPO• Psychological understanding of children and parents at Vijayawada

by Dr. Vishal Reddy, Dr. Kiran Kumar, Dr. Lalitha Chandrika and Dr. T.S. Rao

• Adolescent counselling skills at Bangalore by FAME Academy

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14. SATHI IN MEDIAa. SATHI IN PRINT MEDIA

LINK OF ENTIRE ARTICLE:http://gulfnews.com/culture/people/helping-runaway-kids-find-their-way-back-home-1.1994382

b. SATHI IN ELECTRONIC MEDIAMr. Basavaraj Shali, Secretary and Shamboling Khot, Program Manager of South were invited by All India Radio (Akashvani), Bangalore, Karnataka for an hour live chat named ‘Namm Ooru Namm Jana (Our town, Our people)’. The chat focussed on increasing awareness of ‘Runaway children’ and work of NGOs like SATHI in reaching out to such children.

(An article published on March 15 2017 by Ms. Gagandeep Kaur, Independent Journalist.)

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15. Awards and Recognitiona.Project management Practitioner’s conference facilitates Sathi on July 2016

b. Guide Star India NGO Transparency Award 2016

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16. Accounts Statements

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ANNUAL REPORTDISCLOSURES

All these disclosures should form part of the annual report EXCEPT when you allow Give India to put this information in public domain and share the same via Guide Star India, etc.

1. Abridged financials:

• Balance Sheet,

• Income & Expenditure,

• Receipts & Payments Account or Fund Flow Statement

2. The salary and benefits of the NGO Head, the highest paid staff member and the lowest paid staff member. *Please see sample below

*Sample

Head of the organization: (including honorarium) Rs.8, 83,296/- per year

Highest paid Full Time regular staff Rs. 5, 40,000/-per year

Lowest paid Full Time regular staff Rs.96,000/-per year

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Names of Governing Board Members and their Position

Sl. No. NAME AGE QUALIFICATION DESIGNATION PROFESSION ADDRESS

1

Mrs. Lalitha Iyer

57 MSCPHD Chair Person Behavioral

Science

203, Avens Dale, 5 Moyen Villa Road, Langford Town, Bangalore-560025 Mobile: +91 9481781804Email:lalithaiyer13@gmail.com

2

Mr. Mandar Nayak

41 BEMBA Treasurer Self

Employed

J 34, 3rd Floor, 3rd Cross, Ganesha Block, Seshadripuram, Pipeline Road, Malleshwaram, Bangalore-560003Mobile: +91 9980927915Email: mandarn05@gmail.com

3

Prof. G. Raghuram

58PHD

PGDMB-Tech

Member Director in IIM-B

Professor, Public Systems Group, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, 380015Mobile: +91 9825304948Email:graghu@iima.ac.in

4Dr. Neela Dabir

67 B. Sc. B.Ed. Member TISS

Mumbai

Tata Institute Of Social Sciences, (TISS) MumbaiMobile: +919820047560

5

Mr. Rajeev Dhar

59MBA - IIM Ahmedabad

B.TechMember Social

Worker

#23, Zamrutpur Commercial Complex, New Delhi-48Mobile: +919811031107Email: rajeev.dar@gmail.com

6

Mr. Sumit Bose

62Master of Science

Master of ArtsMember

Retired Civil

Servant

Flat 902, Tower 21, Common Wealth Games Village, Delhi-110092Mobile: +919868201648Email:sumit_bose@hotmail.com

7

Mr. Vikas Maniar

47

MA (Elementary

Education) from TISS Mumbai

MemberProfessor,

AzimPremji University

A501 Adarsh Espronade, 25 Cross, 7 sector, HSR Layout, Bangalore-560102Mobile: +919741390798Email:vikas.maniar@apu.edu.in

8

Mr. Basavaraj Shali

49 MA Sociology Secretary Social

Worker

SATHI, #36, Ratna Forever Building, 4th Floor, 1st Cross, Model Colony, Bangalore-560022Mobile: +919448388257Email: bshali.sathi@gmail.com

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All remuneration and reimbursements to Board members. Even if there is ‘zero’ remuneration it must be placed on record.

Sl. No Name Date of members was first elected to the Board

Gross Remuneration PER ANNUM (Rs.)

1 Mrs. Lalita Iyer 17th August 2010 02 Mr. Mandar Nayak 1st September 2012 03 Prof. G. Raghuram 13th July 2009 04 Dr. Neela Dabir 26th April 2014 05 Mr.Rajeev Dar 29th May 2015 06 Mr. Sumit Bose 22nd June 2016 07 Mr. Vikas Maniar 22nd June 2016 08 Mr. Basavaraj Shali 22nd December 2015 8, 83,296

The distribution of staff according to salary levels and gender breakup.** Please see sample below

**Sample

Slab of gross salary per month (in Rs.) plus benefits paid to staff Male staff Female Staff Total Staff

Less than 5000 0 0 05,000 – 10,000 47 18 6510,000 – 25,000 29 23 5225,000 – 50,000 4 1 550,000 – 1,00,000 1 0 1Greater than 1,00,000 0 0 0Total 81 42 123

Total cost of international travel by all personnel (including volunteers) & Board Members – segregating those incurred on organizational expense and those that were sponsor, along with the name and designation of the person(s) who travelled and the purpose(s) of travel. Even if there is no travel it will be placed on record.

Sl. No. Name of the Board Members Total cost of international travel

1 Mrs. Lalita Iyer 02 Mr. Mandar Nayak 03 Prof. G. Raghuram 04 Dr. Neela Dabir 05 Mr.Rajeev Dar 06 Mr. Sumit Bose 07 Mr. Vikas Maniar 08 Mr. Basavaraj Shali 009 Sathi staff/Volunteers 0

Total 0

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SATHI - Head OfficeNo. 73, First Floor, “Kamadenu”, 5th Main Road, Mathikere Extension,Bangalore - 560 054.: 080 - 23603088Email: sathi.admin@gmail.com

SATHI - Bangalore ShelterOld Railway Institute, Opp Railway play ground, Old Railway Quarters Yeshwanthpur, Bangalore – 560022. : +917829457205Email: sathi.karnataka@gmail.com

SATHI – Varanasi Office /Shelter3rd Floor, House No.10, Patel Nagar Colony Cantonment, Nadesar, Near Subrato Chauk (square) Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Pin code- 221002+919044946522, 0542-2504129Email: sathi.varanasi@gmail.com

SATHI – New Delhi 2/10, 4th Floor, Ansari Road, Above Vijya Bank Darya GanjNew Delhi - 110002: 011-23286493, 09540618618Email: sathi.newdelhi@gmail.com

SATHI – PatnaFlat No- 208, S.S. Vihar Apartment,Behind Super speciality Hospital, Patna Junction (Karbhigaiya Station), Patna, Bihar - 800001.:+916122520880Email: patnasathi@gmail.com

SATHI - Pune OfficeChild Assistance Center - RB - III / 561/1, Railway Quarters, RPF Colony, Pune Railway Station, Tadiwala Road, Pune – 411001, Maharashtra: +919028002102Email: sathipune@gmail.com

SATHI – DarbhangaH. No. 258, M.P. Mishra Chowk,Balbhadrapur, Laheriyasarai,Darbhanga – 846001: +917070496777Email: darbhanga.sathi@gmail.com

SATHI – Kolkata# 17/36, Dakshindari, 2nd Floor,PS. Lake Town,Kolkata – 48: +919073215093Email: sathikolkata7@gmail.com

SATHI - Vishakapatnam D.No.43-5-9, Flat.No.204,Sri Sai Sakunthala Residency, Opp. Pollock School, Railway New colony, VISAKHAPATNAM – 530016: +9175 65755585Email: sathivisakhapatnam@gmail.com

SATHI - Vijayawada# 14-5-25, First Floor, Ratna Road,Achutha Ramayya Street, Hanuman Pete, Vijayawada: 0866 -2578123Email: sathivijayawada@gmail.com

SATHI - RaipurD1, Sector 3, Devendra NagarNear Sai mandir RaipurChhattisgarh: +919424136406 Email : sathiraipur@gmail.com

SATHI - Allahabad15/3, Jayrampur Patpar (subedargang)Post : Dhoomangang, Near Rajrupur Police Chauki, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. : 0532- 2430057E-mail : sathiallahabad@gmail.com

SATHI - BerhampurSOCIETY FOR CHILDREN (SOCH)Hil Patna, Behind MAV School, Post-Hil Patna, Berhampur Ganjam.760004: +917064422441Email: sathiberhampur@gmail.com

SATHI - Kanpur Office / Shelter#185, Anandpuri, KanpurUttar Pradesh - 208 023: +917232922922 Email: sathiuttarpradesh@gmail.com

Sathi Office & Shelter locations

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“ I left home. But now I need help

to go back to my mother. PLEASE HELP ME”

If you find Child like me on railway platform,

please call Railway Police, Child line (1098) or SATHI.

SATHI - Head OfficeNo. 73, First Floor, “Kamadenu”, 5th Main Road, Mathikere Extension,Bangalore - 560 054.: 080 - 23603088www.sathiindia.orgEmail: sathi.admin@gmail.com