Can my child be sent to a shelter? Request from parents leaves Childline staff baffled

Phone service for children inundated with pleas for help as parents grapple with child behaviour problems

They are getting a number of calls from parents seeking expert advice on dealing with behavior issues in children confined indoors for weeks due to the Covid-19 lockdown in Chandigarh, but two requests have left people manning Childline 1098 flummoxed. Two sets of parents have called up enquiring if their children can be sent to shelters.

Two couples in Chandigarh had called the Childline helpline, seeking help saying their children were ‘virtually out of their control’. (HT photo)

Confirming that the requests had been made, Sangeeta Jund, director Childline 1098, a 24-hour free emergency phone service for children in need of aid and assistance, said two couples had called to say their children were “virtually out of their control”. While one couple was currently being counselled with the child, the other request from the parents of a 16-year-old girl had come as no surprise.

The teen had earlier been sent to a shelter because she had run away from home, kept making self-harm threats and refused to give up smoking. Her parents had often sought help from Childline, which responds to the emergency needs of children and also links them to relevant services for their long-term care and rehabilitation.

Child moved to shelter
“Her mother says they cannot handle the child,” says Jund, adding that the teen has been moved to a home again.

Commenting on children without any clinical disease, Dr. Sunil Gupta, MD psychiatrist, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) says, “The situation is exposing the faults in our parenting. As far as parenting is concerned most of the parents try to control their children rather than understand . If we focus on the understanding part we might sort it out in better way.”

Of other distress calls coming in, Jund says, “It’s happening probably because of people getting too stressed because of anxieties due to the Covid-19 outbreak. With schools closed and movement restricted, wards are stuck at home. Also, parents are burdened with work pressure as well as other issues.”

In most cases, a child who had had a standoff with his or her parents was not admitted to a shelter, Jund said.

Minors elope, call for help after restaurant closed
The helpline has been flooded with requests during the lockdown. Staff had to recently rescue two minors who had eloped from home but got stranded in another city and finding no hotel or restaurant open had panicked and called for help.

In another case, a student called demanding a smartphone saying his parents had restricted his phone use.

A number of poor children too had called saying they had problems accessing online classes because of lack of smartphones. “In this case we told them we do not provide such devices,” Jund adds.

“Parenting has become a little bit tougher. Children are staying indoors all the time. This results in behavioural changes and emotional issues. Also, the screen time (spent before TV, with mobile phones) has gone up because of the online classes these days,” says Nitin Goyal, president, The Parents’ Association, Chandigarh.

“Parents have to be more supportive and understanding. The golden part of the lockdown is that families are spending more time together,” he adds.