This campaign has now closed
A Child Friendly Station ensures every child arriving alone is taken to safety by an outreach worker and a long-term solution is found. A network of protection is formed for runaways, orphans and abandoned children consisting of newly-trained railway staff, police, vendors and passengers
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
Every 5 minutes a child arrives alone at one of India’s train stations, some having travelled vast distances in search of work, food or simply because they are lost. The platforms are hostile, dangerous places for young children with no proper services for them to get basic help or protection. They are easy prey to traffickers and pimps. Railway Police are not trained and treat the children as a nuisance to be beaten and moved on rather than vulnerable and in need of care and protection
Solution
Recognising the serious need for urgent action, Railway Children with our local partners have so far made 5 stations ‘child-friendly’ but more are needed. Any child alone at a child-friendly station is immediately protected from risk. Railway Police and Protection Forces, vendors and older street children are trained to protect children taking them to a child-protection booth manned 24/7 and then onto a safe shelter, food, basic medical care and reintegrated to family or other long-term care