(C. H. I. L. D. stands for
"Comprehensive Help to India's Little Destitutes")
Through
SKCV Street Child Rescue Projects,
multitudes of deprived youngsters are gaining a new
self-confidence and self-respect, which is enabling their
inborn talents and capabilities to unfold
naturally. Experience shows that although there
are many organisations that have tried, and are trying to
help street children throughout the world, they,
unfortunately, make the same mistakes,
as those who went before them, thus wasting
valuable time, energy and finance.
SKCV "CHILD"
SYSTEM Projects are a model and unique
example of meaningful assistance to voluntarily
participating street children that can be
replicated in any country of the world.
The system
consists of five phases, which are briefly:
Meeting
street children
on the streets, in parks
or on railway stations
Night
Rescue Centres in City Centres
(providing medical aid, nutritional support,
education and Counselling)
Non-formal
and Formal Education Facilities
(providing opportunity to children for academic
education)
Vocational
Training Schemes / Workshops
(providing skill
training in specific trades and Cottage
industries)
Older
Working-Child Rescue Centres
(providing
medical aid, nutritional support, education and
counselling)
(Funded in
the UK & South America (in Spanish) by
"ODA", in India by "CRY" )
The
"CHILD" System is available as a published
manual on working with street children (published by CRY
(Child Relief and You) :-
Basic Working Strategies
FAMILY
TIES
Renewing
contacts with family is very important, even if
the family is extremely poor and cannot maintain the
child. Regular visits by relatives can give added
inspiration to the child to better himself / herself.
A "missing child" system of retrieval is also
in place and highly successful. Parents fill out
reports and searches are made.
FIRST
CONTACT
Groups of rehabilitated
street children willingly go out on sorties to
contact their friends in obscure corners of the city.
They convince them to visit an SKCV Night Rescue Centre
and give assurances about the wonderful facilities for
street kids. This is a much more powerful and attractive
force than adult contact. However, the professional
staff regularly make contact through the Mobile
Children's Medical Unit, in order to offer
advice, medical aid and counselling.
GOVERNMENT
INTERACTION
SKCV works
closely with the Ministry of Labor in Organising
Government Education Programmes for working
children in the local areas, as well as State, District
and local Municipal Officials.
FUTURE
PLANS
A
Children's Crisis / Suicide Prevention Centre and
"Hot-Line"
