DCPUs, NGOs pitch in to help children

The District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) in charge of Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupattur will be starting awareness campaigns to educate people to contact Childline 1098 if they come across children who have been orphaned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the DCPU and NGOs in the three districts have been giving psycho-social counselling to children whose parents have tested positive for the infection.

“People can contact the DCPU and Child Line 1098 to provide information about children who have lost their parents to COVID-19. The children will be given care and support by the DCPU," said an official from Vellore.

He said that the children who do not have any guardians would be accomodated in government homes and provided with food, shelter and education.

“We are trying to identify children who have lost both their parents by working closely with the district health department officials. But till date we have not come across any. However, we will be educating people in the 744 villages under our DCPU on what to do if they come across such children," said another official.

The DCPU has been identifying vulnerable families, where parents have tested COVID-19 positive, with the help of Village-level Child Protection Committees and rendering all needed help.