Rescued children running away from rehab centres

KOCHI: It is an eyebrow raising matter that many children rescued by the police and various NGOs often run away from the rehabilitation centres within days after they are admitted there. The authorities who are responsible for monitoring the children wash their hands of the issue when such incidents happen. A ten-year-old boy, who was rescued by the police with the help of the locals and social activists, was sent to a rehabilitation  centre with the help of Child Line activists this week. But the boy ran away with three other inmates within a week. The authorities of the rehabilitation centre, the Child Line and Child Welfare Committee have not taken any steps to trace the missing children. Apart from filing a complaint at the police station, nothing has been done yet. Murugan, the social activist who rescued the boy from Kalamassery, said the authorities were not ready to take the responsibility once the rescued child is sent to the rehabilitation centre. “The organisations working for child welfare are not bothered whether the child is happy and healthy at the rehabilitation centre. One of the major issues with the rehabilitation centres is that the rescued children live in jail-like atmosphere. They have to live in closed surrounding. Given the high walls and cloistered atmosphere, any rescued boy will run away from there,” Murugan said.When City Express contacted the officials of Child Line, they said it was the responsibility of the Child Welfare Committee to review the facilities at the rehabilitation centres. “Our duty is only to hand over the children to the rehabilitation centre. It is their responsibility to trace the children and bring them back to the rehabilitation centre. As far as the facilities at the rehabilitation centres are concerned, it is the Child Welfare Committee which has to take action in this regard,” a Child Line official said.The police sources said the complaints regarding children missing from the rehabilitation centres are on the rise. “It is a regular phenomenon. When we trace out and quiz the children, they say the atmosphere at the rehabilitation centres are uncomfortable. That is why they run away,” a police officer said.An official of the child Welfare Committee said they regularly inspect the rehabilitation centres and nothing unhygienic had been found. “We take necessary measures when cases of child-missing are reported. Since there is no government rehabilitation centre for boys, we have to admit them to private institutions,” the Child Welfare Committee official said.