#SafetyCircle – Parenting a Vital Lever in Building Safe Environments for Children

Parents play an undeniably critical role in a child’s life. Many personality traits and values of a child are attributed to his/her parents. It is not an over-statement then to say that a child’s mental well-being relies heavily on his/her parents’ mental well-being.

In the numerous communities that skirt transport hubs, live numerous parents who struggle every day to make ends meet. In the course of their struggle, they too seek guidance and mentorship to not only be better parents but to be the best versions of themselves. RCI identifies this need and conducts many parent-oriented workshops and sessions to help parents find a way through their many questions in creating a safe nurturing environment for their children.

Chronicling RCI’s collaboration with parents are these 5 short stories, which detail RCI’s intervention in cases of substance abuse, school dropouts, child labour, lost and found children and reunions. The common thread in all of these cases are worried parents seeking help from a difficult situation and RCI’s intervention that dissolves it for them. Read on to learn about an integral arm of RCI’s efforts—guidance and counselling of parents.

Names changed to protect the identity of the child and his/her family*

Helping Shabana Khatoon and her Son Nazir Find a Way out of Child Labour

Shabana Khatoon along with her husband Naushad and their three children migrated from Bihar’s Samatipur district to Delhi’s Tulsi Nagar in search of a better life. However, when Naushad surrendered to alcohol addiction, the family’s dreams of a better life began crumbling.

The meager earnings of Naushad’s job were flowing away in the alcohol, which forced Shabana to look for work as a domestic help to support the family. The migration from their hometown to Delhi had not been kind to the children’s education. Thirteen-year-old Nazir, along with his younger sisters Rahnuma and Sadnuma were all school dropouts. With the economic condition becoming dire by the day, Nazir assumed the elder brother’s responsibility and secured a job in a disposable item—making factory nearby. He even worked as a server at a nearby tea stall to fuel his income.

While the family did need Nazir’s income, Shabana was unhappy with having to send her son to earn. This is where RCI’s community outreach stepped in her life.

Nazir enrolled in RCI’s Child Activity Center (CAC).  Identifying parents’ role in child education both him and his mother were counselled about the numerous opportunities that were still available for Nazir. Shabana also received appropriate parental advice. While the CAC would become a fertile ground for him to brush up his literary and numeric skills, social service schemes and vocational courses would help him in his career.

Today, Shabana is confident of her child’s bright future owing to RCI’s intervention in the community.

Sushila Takes Pride in Her Daughter’s Journey from a School Dropout to an Aspirational Lawyer

Like many other families inhabiting the Valmiki Basti community in Delhi, Sarika’s family too had migrated from their hometown in search of a better life. Sarika’s parents hailed from Rajasthan. While her father, Suresh, worked as a sweeper, her mother, Sushila, was a domestic help. In the course of changing homes from Rajasthan to Delhi, the family faced many issues; among those was the loss of important documents.

Sarika’s Transfer Certificate (TC) was among the bunch of documents that were misplaced in the course of changing cities. This misplacement, however, meant that Sarika would need to pause her education once in Delhi. Her days in Delhi were spent idling at home— directionless. This is when RCI’s community outreach brought a ray of hope in hers and her family’s life.

RCI’s community outreach volunteers identified Sarika as a beneficial candidate of the CAC. Initially, she showed little interest in joining, which was only natural after the gap in her education. However, once enrolled, her trajectory changed positively. She participated in the CAC’s many, diverse activities, cultural events, games, and interactive session, which reignited her curiosity and interest in learning. Her family too was jubilant to observe her rising interest in education. Sarika’s parents also received parenting counselling.

Soon, after a few attempts, our volunteers were able to secure Sarika’s admission in a local school through an online process. A day in her life now looked very positively different.

“She gets ready for school by herself every day, and hates to miss even a single day. She does her homework daily and spends time in self-study as well,” shared an ecstatic Sushila.

Today, Sarika also holds her very own bank account, as she has applied for government scholarships.

Her transformation from a child who had become utterly distant from education, to one who aspires to be a lawyer one day, is motivational for team RCI and blissful for her parents.

RCI’s Relentless Efforts Change a Mother’s Furrowed Brows to a Hopeful Smile

Eleven-year-old Vishal and his parents stay in the busy Kishan Ganj neighborhood of Delhi. Both of Vishal’s parents are working individuals, struggling hard to make ends meet. They realize that their son is in bad company; however, his addiction to substance abuse comes as a rude shock to them.

One day when RCI’s community outreach volunteers venture into their community to identify vulnerable children, the parents see veritable help coming their way.

Vishal had dropped out of school and owing to questionable company had resorted to sniffing glue, smoking cannabis, and consuming alcohol at the tender age of 11. His addiction had his parents severely worried. Yet, it took several, persistent visits by team RCI to convince Vishal’s parents and Vishal to take steps, combating the addiction.

In the course of these visits and counselling sessions, Vishal had even fled his home once. However, once they agreed, team RCI set up a meeting with the district Child Protection Committee, who then, for the prevention of drug abuse, directed his enrolment in a de-addiction center.

Today, Vishal is recovering from his addiction and his mother is wearing a hopeful smile after several months of despair.

RCI comes to the Rescue of Distressed Parents who lost Their Son at a Busy Railway Station

RCI’s volunteers at Sarai Rohilla Railway Station rescued 10-year-old Pritam. He was travelling from Bihar with his mother. At a halt, he had separated from his mother due to some reason. Since then he alighted at ever station in search of his mother, before he was rescued at Sarai Rohilla. Thereafter a series of events ensued for the implementation of child safety/child protection, as per standard protocol, which included collaboration of UP Police as well, that led to the eventual reunion of the mother-son duo.

“I started looking at the place but did not find my son. I was not feeling at home at all and had given up eating and drinking. Then, on January 1, 2024, I came to know from the police station in Sector 6, that my son was found at Delhi Sarai Rohilla Railway Station. I got my son, and I felt very good that my son is living very well at home and going to school daily. You all are doing such a good job, and the child is safe at home, for which I will be very grateful to all of you.”

These words by Pritam’s mother, Nubhi Devi, were team RCI’s reward.

Sunny’s Innocent Outing became a Nightmare for his Mother until RCI Intervened

RCI’s outreach team at Delhi Cantt Railway Station rescued 10-year-old Sunny along with some of his friends. The group had decided to go on a fun outing within the periphery of their local park; however, they had pedaled away into the premises of the railway station.

Fortunately, all the children in the group knew their parents’ phone numbers, which led to the safe reunion of every child with their respective families.

In the interim, Sunny’s mother, Sumitra, was searching for him frantically in the neighborhood, she even filed a missing person’s complaint with the police.

Finally, after being reunited with her son, and receiving guidance and counselling of parents and family members, she expressed her gratitude to the team.