CHENNAI: The social defence department has issued a circular to district child protection officers asking them to make all efforts to engage existing Childline (1098) staff in the Child Helpline (CHL) units being formed after its merger with Helpline 112.
The circular stated that the appointment procedures for staff in district child protection units may be followed for the appointment of CHL staff and the Child helpdesk. As per the standard operating procedure, Child helpline units in districts with populations less than 60 lahks will have eight employees while those having more than 60 lakh will have 10 employees. Each district will have a project coordinator, one counsellor, three child helpline supervisors and three case workers. They will be paid Rs 27,804, Rs 18,536, Rs 18,536 and Rs 13,240 respectively.
Officials in the social defence department said many of the already existing Childline staff are suitable for these positions as they have both the educational qualifications and field experience. “We are still expecting more instructions from the union government. The preparatory works are underway in many of the districts and the recruitment process will start soon. It will be done in consultation with the district collector,” said an official from the social defence department.
At present, around 550 workers are working with more than 75 NGOs running the Childline in districts across the state. “We welcome the move to give some priority to the already existing staff. Apart from rescuing children when incidents like child marriage happen, Childline workers have also been creating awareness to prevent child marriage and child abuse and it has been successful largely. The state government should ensure the involvement of civil society organisations in tackling child-related issues as social workers have a good rapport with the community and handle the child-related issues better,” said Devaneyan, a child rights activist.
He also added that the number of employees has been reduced considerably and the shortage of manpower could pose problems in providing enough attention to the cases. “The number of staff has been reduced to nearly 300. While it is not possible to hire all the existing employees of the childline, we are happy at least some of us will continue to work to safeguard the safety of the children. However, we will have to wait for the recruitment process to start to see how well it is implemented,” said a childline worker.
The road ahead
Each Child Helpline unit will have project coordinator, counsellor, three Child Helpline supervisors & three case workers
Most Childline staff are eligible as they have the educational qualifications and field experience
550 workers work with over 75 NGOs running Childline in dist’s across state
112 Child helpline will be integrated with the Emergency Response Support System helpline