The immense uncertainty of COVID-19, the increased risk of children stuck inside abusive/violent homes and the lack of access to safe spaces, thanks to multiple lockdowns, pushed CSJ to find new ways of ways of responding to children’s issues with the singleminded focus of ensuring that no child is left behind.
CSJ has continued to extend direct legal aid and psychosocial support to 250+child survivors of sexual abuse through
1. consistent direct contact with & support to children & their families/caregivers,
2. continued legal representation in courts,
3. applying for interim compensation to ensure financial support for families, since COVID-19 meant job loss & savings exhaustion for many,
4. virtual restorative talking circles for children living within institutions, and
5. direct financial aid to families struggling to make ends meet during the second wave.
Additionally, CSJ has also
- extended direct support to women & children in cases of domestic violence in collaboration with Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiative (APPI) and Childline India Foundation.
- offered direct counselling for children in Child Care Institutions (CCIs) through a collaboration with Miracle Foundation.
- been offering telephonic counselling to children who have lost one or both parents to COVID via a State COVID Helpline launched by the state govt & through a partnership with UNICEF Chhattisgarh.
- been providing counselling and weekly restorative circle processes to children within institutions in partnership with various Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) & Child Care Institutions (CCIs)
CSJ’s larger response to COVID has been through collaborations with various stakeholders in the child rights space, to ensure that children all over India are safe and can access the right care.
COLLABORATIONS & TRAININGS
CSJ has directly trained 4000+ frontline workers & first responders, police officials, social workers, judges & lawyers across the country through multiple partnerships & has conducted several trainings on working with children, with innovative virtual participatory mechanisms.
Some of these collaborations are:
- Childline India Foundation – Training of first responders in trauma-informed counselling for children and self-care while caring for others, for Childline staff all over India
- ChildFund India – Trainings for pan-India social worker coordinators.
- iProbono – Training of lawyers in practicing self-care.
- SPUWAC – Trainings for Delhi Police and social workers associated with various police stations in Delhi and working with children in abusive households, on mitigating effects of parental conflict on children.
- Miracle Foundation – Training of Child Care Institution staff in counselling children.
- UNICEF Chhattisgarh – Trainings for various state officials and Child Protection Officers across the state.
- UNICEF Rajasthan & Department of Child Rights, Rajasthan – Trainings for social workers from across the state, in counselling children.
OTHER RESPONSES
With the spirit of working together with all stakeholders in ensuring children’s protection throughout India, CSJ
- collaborated with India Alternative Care Network (IACN) & created a unique series of live training sessions on Facebook on ‘Counselling & Self-Care’ for caregivers during COVID. The series received over 5000 views across channels,
- developed and shared a document on reimagining virtual counselling,
- offered regular inputs as a member of India’s COVID Response Alliance of India on Child Protection (CRAICP), and
- supported the development of a Policy Brief on Child Rights in COVID19.
Our Collaborators in responding to COVID
