Summer vacations are nearly here, and for a number of parents in the city, the job of hunting for fun summer camps for their children has begun. But it’s also the time of the year that city-based organisation Tulir, Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, says it sees a spike in the number of complaints it receives.
“With many organisations, including professional sporting bodies, conducting camps of all kinds, many of which are run by volunteers, I wonder if they are aware that child abuse could be an issue and if so, if they have child protection policies in place,” said Vidya Reddy of Tulir. A recent case she received, she said, involved a child at an art camp where a substitute teacher taught a session and abused a 13-year-old girl. “The mother complained to the camp organiser but nothing much was done from their end,” she said.
A child protection policy must look at physical infrastructure and security, screening of staff and volunteers, training and a code of conduct for volunteers and staff, which is shared with parents and methods to respond to allegations, said Ms. Reddy.
Parents, she said, need to be aware of this issue and ask organisers what they are doing to protect children in their care.
While some organisers of classes and camps said they did not have child protection policies as such, they said they trained staff members on working with children.
At theatre institution Crea-Shakthi, which has been running camps for about five years and works with children aged 6-14, Dushyanth Gunashekar said all trainers went through a mandatory orientation programme where child psychologists, early intervention experts, academic heads of institutions and communication experts spoke, covering many aspects including physical safety, a policy on touch and on sensitivity of content. “This is a constant process. We also ensure we communicate with parents and all stakeholders effectively,” he said.
Sumitha Sundaram, who has been organising summer camps for children for 16 years, says they follow a strict no-touch policy and try not to take in volunteers unless absolutely necessary. “There was not much awareness about this issue 10 years ago, but now, with increased awareness, we too have evolved our policies,” she said.
“If a parent is sending a child to a summer camp, they must tell the child about what is safe and unsafe. Allow the child to openly discuss any issues with you,” said child protection specialist at Unicef Chennai, G. Kumaresan. Stressing the importance of child protection policies in organisations that work with children, he said such policies have to be displayed prominently to make spaces child-friendly.
For parents, said Nancy Thomas, programme manager at Tulir, a checklist to follow would be finding out as much as possible about the organisation, finding out how interactions are supervised and knowing how to report a problem.
Volunteer organisations and corporates too
With an increase in the number of organisations that have volunteers training and working with children, protection policies are crucial, say experts.
Bhumi, an organisation that has 2,000 volunteers teaching in shelter homes across the country, has a policy in place, said co-founder Prahalathan K.K. “We have a simple set of ‘do’s and don’ts’ that every volunteer learns at orientation. It includes instructions such as not being alone with a child and not going to a centre during non-class hours. There is always a minimum of at least four volunteers per centre. Any volunteer who is working in our education programme has to go through the orientation,” he said.
Why do children not disclose abuse:
According to a research report done by Tulir, Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, some of the reasons children do not disclose abuse are:
Not knowing whom to approach
Not knowing how/what to say
Feeling guilty
Didn’t think they would be believed
Abuser asked them to keep it a secret
Feeling scared
Not wanting to tell anyone
Their reputation may get spoilt
Two or more of these reasons
The report also showed that many who did disclose were asked to keep it a secret and in some cases, nothing changed. This is a sad commentary on society as whole that cannot give a child the respect and dignity a disclosure such as this warrants. -- Vidya Reddy, Tulir
