Payel Biswas

CHILDLINE India Foundation

The CHILDLINE service, developed and managed by CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF), is a free 24x7 emergency phone outreach service. Children or concerned adults dial the number 1098, from any phone services in India, and are connected to the CHILDLINE service in their city. CHILDLINE is India's national-level response to the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The 1098 service is available to all phone service providers across India. CHILDLINE responds in over 25 languages across India. CHILDLINE teams physically reach children within approx. an hour of the call, provide SOS attention and link children in need of care and protection to organizations run by government departments as well as those run by civil society agencies. Children and youth living alone on urban streets, child labour – especially in the unorganized sector, child abuse, children being victims of the flesh trade, ill treatment of differently-abled children, addiction in children, children in conflict with the law, children in institutions, mental illness in children, HIV/AIDS or other long term diseases in children, children affected by conflicts and disasters or being political refugees, children's families in crises, female foeticide, undernourishment, illiteracy, trafficking – are among the host of issues plaguing children in India and also represents the range of cases handled by CHILDLINE. Each kind of case requires its own unique protocol to be followed. CHILDLINE works closely with Allied systems- Police, Education and Health departments, Railways and Judiciary in order to resolve cases. Initiated in 1996, CHILDLINE currently operates in 543+ districts and 117+ railway stations, through its unique social-franchise network of over 980+ partner organizations across India, and services over 8-10 million calls and 300,000 interventions a year.