Improved Care and Protection of Girl Children

About Arushi Home

Arushi is one of the girls’ children home of Salaam Baalak Trust. It is a registered child care institution for girls in need in need of care and protection under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015. This is residential care project which caters to the need of the girls between the age group of 6 to 18 years, located in Gurgaon. This place provides full-fledged support to the children including medical care, hot cooked meals, education, mental health support, vocational training; for rehabilitation of every child.

Details of children (Girls) in Aarushi home in the period

Kinds of Service/ Intervention  and number of girls :      

Number of girls who availed the home services  54

Restoration to family  6

Availing higher studies   1 (rehabilitated)

Formal Education    27

National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)  5

Non-formal education (NFE)  22

Vocational training  2

Medical Care:

Individual psychosocial support- 173

Group sessions- 17

Referral sessions- 80

In house check-ups- 61

Medical Investigation-  48 children

Referred to hospital – 16 children

TT vaccination- 38 children

De-worming- 42 children

Hospitalisation- 2

Human Resources

SBT engaged 20 staff members to manage the home for girls, which includes Centre In-Charge (Coordinator), caretakers, cooks and guards. The medical team including doctors and mental health professionals also visit the home regularly.

Food

Children are provided with 3 hot and nutritious meals and evening snacks. For sick children special nutrition is provided in the form of milk, eggs, paneer, juice, nuts, etc.

Achievements

• In the computer education programme in the home, there are 27 girls enrolled. These girls have become tech savvy and have learnt the importance of using computers in the present digital age. They are using computers to remain abreast with recent national and international happenings and complete their assignments and school home work. They are also envisioning computer classes as a prerequisite for skill development classes and job placement.

   

  • In this period, 6 cases of sexual abuse (under POCSO Act) were handled by the team.
  • One girl who has completed her standard 12 and is pursuing aviation training through Frankfinn Institute.
  • The children and staff celebrated all the Indian festivals during this period.
  • At present 8 girls are preparing themselves for board examination (4 in standard 10 and 4 in standard 12). They are doing well in education.

  Challenges

  • COVID- 19 impacted children’s mental and physical health. 21 children were infected with COVID-19. They are fully recovered now.
  mputer classes as a prerequisite for skill development classes and job placement.

• There are 5 children who fall under the category of children with special needs and it has been particularly difficult to manage them during the lockdown and closing of their schools.
• Rehabilitation of the girls (mostly restoration to family) became a challenge due to the lockdown.

Stories of Change

Young pregnant girl gets support

A young girl Seema (name changed) was sent to Arushi children’s home by the authorities for care and protection as she was pregnant and her husband was in jail. She was given special care, mental health support and healthy diet.

After sometime Seema shared that she is an adult (above 18 years of age). So the SBT staff carried out a bone ossification test and it was found that Seema is actually above 18 years of age. So soon she was transferred to NariNiketan (home for women) in her native place Karnal, Haryana.

Girl pursues career in aviation industry

A child Meena (name changed) was brought to Arushi home for girls through an organization named Chelsea at the age of five years. Her father died from a terminal illness and her mother and brother also have some severe health issues. Meena found it difficult to adjust to her new life in the home initially but later she started settling down. She was good at studies so she was enrolled in Rotary Public school. She scored 81% in standard 12.Presently she is pursuing a course in “Aviation, hospitality and travel Management”.