Childline Services is defined in Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015 under section 2(25) as a twenty-four hours emergency outreach service for children in crisis which links them to emergency or long-term care and rehabilitation service.The service can be accessed by any child in crisis or an adult on their behalf by dialing a four digit toll free number (1098).

As  part of the broader vision of One Nation One Helpline, and as prioritised during the 2^nd  National Chief Secretaries’ Conference, the Ministry has taken a decision of integration of Women Helpline, Child Helpline with ERSS-112 (Emergency Response Support System).

Ministry under erstwhile Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme was supporting this 24x7 helpline Childline 1098 service, through Childline India Foundation (CIF) and its partner NGOs. Childline India Foundation (CIF) was the ‘MOTHER NGO’ managing this service as Childline. CIF is rendering Childline Services in 568 districts, 135 Railway Stations and 11 Bus Stands through its network of 1000+ units. The response time by CIF is about 60 minutes to respond to children’s distress calls.The current system however lacks interoperability with other services like Police, Fire, Ambulance which leads to loss of precious time in distress situations. Furthermore, the CIF network could cover only 568 districts which had left almost 200 districts uncovered under ChildLine.  Therefore, Government has taken a decision to integrate Child Helpline with ERSS-112 so that the responsibility of the administration towards children is taken over and made functional through responsible and responsive administration.

The Child Helpline system run in collaboration with the States and UTs will have positive effect on strengthening the Service Delivery structures under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2015 as amended in 2021.  The technical integration with the ERSS-112 is expected to usher in seamless flow of information which will aid repatriation and restoration of children in vulnerable situations within the district, state and across the States and UTs effectively.

A comparative table of features of the old system and the new Child Helpline is given below:

 

Sl No.	CIF	Child Helpline
1.	6 Centralized Call Centres (CCCs) in 05 locations namely: Kolkata, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai	36 WCD Control Rooms
2.	4 Regional Resource Centres for Capacity Building in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata	Training to be given through C-DAC, NIPCCD, Railways and NIMHAND in collaboration with state training institutes
3.	Urban Model: The Childline program at the City level comprises of the City Level Advisory Board (CAB), one Nodal Organization and one Collaborative Organization.	Urban Model will be DCPU based, Child Help Groups at Sub-district and ward level to rush to immediate aid of children in distress situations and assist CHL unit at DCPU on the spot in such cases.
4.	Rural Model: The Childline program at the district level comprises of the District Level Advisory Board (DAB), one Nodal Organization, one Collaborative Organization and up to six District Sub-Centres.	Rural Model: will be DCPU based, Child Help Groups at Sub-district and Panchayati Raj Institution level to rush to immediate aid of children in distress situations and assist CHL unit at DCPU on the spot in such cases.
5.	Child Help Desk at Railway Stations established to ensure care and protection, security and well- being of run-away, unaccompanied and trafficked children who came into contact with the Railways	Child Help Desk at Railway Stations would continue to operate to ensure care and protection, security and well- being of run-away, unaccompanied and trafficked children who came into contact with the Railways
6.	Child Help Desk at Bus Stand established	Child Help Desk at Bus Stand would continue
7.	As of 31st march 2023 CIF has a network of approximately 1000 plus units in 568 districts only and in 135 Railway stations and 11 bus stands	Child Helpline would take over these units district wise in phased manner All districts including those so far not covered districts shall be included under Child Helpline
8.	CIF has agreed to migrate legacy data and ensure smooth transition to the new system.	The first phase of 9 States/UTs are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu, Gujarat, Goa, Ladakh, Mizoram and Puducherry for which taking over will be completed by 30.06.2023. Other States/UTs will also be on-boarded in a phased wise manner.

 

CHILD HELPLINE

Ministry has issued guidelines of Mission Vatsalya Scheme subsuming erstwhile Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme according to which the Child Helpline will be run in coordination with State and District functionaries including Police, Counselors, Case Workers and integrated with the Emergency Response Support System 112 (ERSS-112) helpline of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Ministry has also issued detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) of Child Helpline to all States/UTs for implementation of Child Helpline Services in the country. A 24x7 dedicated WCD Control Room (WCD-CR) will be setup for Child Helpline in each State/UT and will be integrated with ERSS-112. Further, at the district level, Child Helpline (CHL) Unit at District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) will be available round the clock to provide outreach service for children in crisis linking them to emergency and long-term care and rehabilitation services. States/UTs as per the SoPs of Railways would continue in setting up of Child Help Desk/Kiosk/ Booth at the selected Railway Stations and Bus Stands.

Ministry has entrusted the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Kerala as a Total Solution Provider (TSP) for automation of Child Helpline-1098 and its integration with ERSS-112.

Call Protocol: The incoming calls to 1098 will be classified into three categories - Emergency calls, Non-Emergency calls and Information calls. All Emergency calls can be forwarded from 1098 to 112 or vice versa on the switch of a button. Non-emergency calls may be transferred to respective CHL units at DCPUs and Information calls will be handled at WCD CR itself or may be transferred to CHL Units of DCPUs for providing information to the caller. All calls on 1098 will land on the WCD-CR of Child helpline in respective States/UTs and emergency calls will be forwarded to ERSS-112. 

The transition of Child Helpline is in progress and is being made operational by taking over of Childline in 09 States/UTs in phase-wise manner.

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SS/TFK

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