Home Placement Project

Azhar was all of 16 years when he came left home after a fight with his parents and had taken refuge at the Mumbai Central station. He was contacted by one of Saathi outreach workers; his family was traced and was reunited with his family.

For him, Sachin Bhaiya,(the outreach worker) is a real life hero. He is still in touch with him through letters and keeps him updated of the various developments in his life. He too plans to come with his parents to visit Saathi in future.

Like Azhar, a number of children come to Mumbai for various reasons. The Home Placement project works with such vulnerable children up to the age of 18 years who run away from home or abandoned and settle on streets. The aim of the program is to assist the boys/girls to return home and intervene to work with the family to address the issues responsible for the child having left home. We strongly believe that the family is the best place for the overall development of the child

The Home Placement project includes identifying such children at the station and intervening at the earliest to protect the children from abuse and exploitation.

The children are rescued and reunified with their families. The children contacted are brought to the Day care centre for counseling and deciding what they want to do in the future. Various recreational and educational activities are conducted at the centre that keep the children occupied. At night they are shifted to a night shelter which acts as a secured and protected place for the boys, a place where they can introspect and plan and discuss their futures with the social workers. It gives them a space to express themselves and take decisions which are not feasible had they remained at the station premises.

Regular interactions with the children by the social workers have made a big difference in their lives. The shelter is working as a strong link in the process of reunification.

 In case of absence of a fit family, the children are referred to other partner organizations, depending on the need of the child.

The program also works towards sensitization of its stakeholders, which includes the Railway Protection Force, Government Railway Police, the coolies, hawkers at the stations and the station-dwelling families. A number of children are referred by these groups.

The HP project is also seen as a space for experimentation and pro-active responses to the issues of care and protection of children at large. The project’s engagements in the areas of accident cases, local traffickers and trafficking at large, campaign on child labour, and intervention in Children’s Home are some of the issues identified by the team. Understanding continues to be built to address them at the project as well as at the organizational level.