Home is where the heart lies: A singular government sanctuary for kids

Someone once said that we worry about what a child may become tomorrow, but we forget that he is someone today. There are some children who have been abandoned by the world, who have no loved ones to think of fulfilling their dreams — of the present and the future.
They are orphans with no families, sometimes separated due to various circumstances or forced to leave their homes or have no one to turn to. As a result, they wander in the streets, work when they can, eat when they find something edible and sleep on street sides when they get tired.
Such children who are found alone or helpless are brought by the public, Police or sent by the court to Children's Homes (Balamandira) run by the Department of Women and Child Development [At present, N.R. Vijay, who is the Deputy Director of the Department, heads the overall management of the institutions].
Mysore city has two such Homes, one each for boys and girls. When I visited the Children's Home for Girls situated on Lalitha Mahal Road, it was a pleasant change from the pre-conceived notion of a government-run institution.
The mansion, which houses the Girls Home, is called Chikkaramane as it belonged to the Maharajas' family. The building is a heritage one, built around 1915 as a residence for E.W. Fritchley, the architect and consulting engineer who designed Lalitha Mahal Palace. At present, it houses 79 girls between 6 and 18 years of age.

Pic.by M.S. Apuurva

The Home was actually started in 1958 to give shelter to children whose parents died in war, says Rangamani, a Probation Officer. Later it was modified to include the children of single  parents  and broken families,  orphans, run-aways and neglected children. Some parents also bring their children when they are no longer in a position to look after them. The family members can visit the children whenever they wish.
The Child Welfare Committee (CWC), working under the Department of Women and Child Development, decides who should be admitted to the Home after verifying the child's background like the presence or    absence of a family, financial and emotional condition of the family and thus their need to stay in the Home. Anybody can bring the child they find crying on the road-side or lost and wandering.
Home enquiry
A Home enquiry is conducted twice weekly — on Tuesdays and Fridays— where it will be decided if the new child should be kept at the Home or sent somewhere else. Before the enactment of Ju-venile Justice Act 2000, children could only be sent here through Observation Homes or transferred from Homes in other districts or States and the Children's Homes did not have the freedom to admit children directly.
After 18 years, the parents of the child (if any) will take them home. If the children do not have any family, they will be sent to the State Home where they will either be trained in desired vocational courses or aided in getting jobs. Girls are even married off with full expense paid by the government.
Rangamani cites an example of a girl married off by the officials recently at the State Home in city. She recollects another happily married former inmate who came to visit the Home with her child. Most of the girls, who have lived at the Home, have now gone on to become higher officials in government departments apart from taking up the job of nurses, teachers etc.
Girls who have committed crimes are extremely rare here, and for that matter anywhere. Underage brides, that is those who have married before 18 years, are also sent here. Children who have been sent to the Home by the court will be in safe custody till the case ends and then their fate is decided.
The Home
Those who expect disorder and chaos in a government institution are in for a disappointment as the large two-storeyed Balamandira is well-maintained under the supervision of Superintendent Geethalakshmi. Apart from the occasional peeping cockroach, the kitchen, rooms and bathrooms are hygienically maintained. HOPCOMS provides vegetables every day, says Hemavathi, a Teacher who looks after the kids' education. About 25 litres of milk and curds are   fed to satiate the children's appetite while books donated by visitors feed their curious minds along with TV and games.
Academics & other activities
With a view to give an opportunity for children at the Home to mingle with other children, they are being sent to a school in Kurubarahalli and the People's Park College. Two of them are even studying BBM course. Teachers provide tuitions to the kids at the Home itself every morning and evening before and after regular school.
One of the girls who bagged distinction in the exams was awarded cash prize recently by the Chief Minister. Not only academically, the kids at the Home also excel in extra-curricular activities. Some kids have donned theatre colours in the Maya Kudure play and another drama staged at Shravanabelagola. They have also taken part in the Bala Vikasa Academy's Prathi-bha Karanji contests and won many prizes. They have actively participated in the Dharwad festival and Shimoga's Sahyadri festival. They are being trained by the staff themselves.
The children have also taken part in Himalayan trekking expedition. The kids are taken occasionally on excursions, especially during Children's Day when celebrations are conducted for a week. Rangamani says buses for the tours are sometimes provided by donors. Earlier, the Police used to provide vehicles for tours.
Rehabilitation
As a means of rehabilitating the girls, computer training has been started along with tailoring and other courses. Earlier, JSS Jan Shikshana Sansthan provided training in various courses including cooking, mehendi designs, embroidery in greeting cards etc. There are several instances of girls setting up their own business like tailoring after they go out of the Home.
Counselling
Psychologists and social  workers provide twice-a-week counselling to new entrants. However, the Home needs permanent psychiatrists as the  psyche of a child who is away from parents and family is fragile. Most children who come here are from troubled backgrounds like broken families. They need constant psychological monitoring as they tend to get depressed.
The posts of psychologists, psychiatrists and staff nurse are lying vacant. Doctors come for frequent health check-up. But it is surprising that doctors were, until very recently, being given only Rs.125 honorarium per month.
Rangamani narrates an incident of a girl who was transferred in an extremely unhealthy condition to the Home from Bangalore. She was found to be very fragile and under-weight. When she was admitted to hospital, it was found that she was suffering from tuberculosis and would have died if left untreated. After a lengthy treatment, she is now a healthy girl studying in high school and had recently taken part in Himalayan trekking.
At a time when private institutions create a lot of hype about the social service and humanitarian works they take up occasionally, it is commendable that there is a government institution which is silently parenting these children, who are in no position to help themselves.
Home for Boys
The Home for Boys is located in JP Nagar. As it is being run since its inception in rented buildings, there is a constant shifting from one building to another, with no adequate rooming facilities for the more than 50 boys and staff.
Though the government has granted land for the Boys' Home in Vijayanagar, fund for the construction of the building is yet to be released and before that, the Home may have to be shifted to another building once again.
The boys, who live in cram-ped quarters amidst the din of vehicular movement, find it hard to study. They go to nearby Nachanahallipalya School with two boys going to college. The facilities for the children and the admission procedures are similar to that of Girls' Home. The boys get additional computer and ITI training.
It is difficult to comprehend the psychology of children, which can never be predicted. They sometimes run away from the school during lunch break for no reason and get caught, says Probation Officer Sudha adding that the kids have to be gently convinced that running away is not an option. Both mentally depressed and normal children are being counselled regularly here.
Many boys from the Boys' Home are pursuing higher education and secured good jobs. One is even working abroad after doing BE and MBA.
The children who run away from the Home not only end up wandering the streets but also get caught in the vicious net of child traffickers, who sell them to hotel owners and sex workers. According to a survey by a newspaper in Bangalore in 2009, children are sold every morning in Bangalore for about Rs.1,200 each, which may have increased by now.
Today's need is to protect children from such dangers, apart from hunger, home-lessness and lack of love at home, which are the causative factors that make the kids try to escape.
[As per the law, no outsider is allowed to take photographs of the children in the Homes.]