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The second wave of Covid-19 has devastated families. It has been particularly hard for parents who have tested positive and forced to isolate or get hospitalised and don’t know what to do with their small children . In nuclear set-ups, young parents are left helpless and don’t know how their children will cope.
Recognising the need for a home away from home for such children left in such distress, the Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC) and the Cyberabad Police have launched three Child Care Response Centres.
The SCSC, an association of stakeholders in the IT and IT-enabled services in Hyderabad, will operate the centres, while the Cyberabad Police is deploying its She Teams (exclusive contingents to take care of women security) to fetch the children from their homes to the Child Care Centres.
‘She Team’
“We launched a helpline today where our volunteers would take the calls and do some basic screening to find out why a family wants to send their children to the centre. Then, She Team members will go to their houses, take the consent from parents and get the kids,” Krishna Yedula, Secretary-General of SCSC, told BusinessLine .
Pratyusha Sharma, Joint Secretary, SCSC, says the organisation has tied up with paediatricians, tele-medicine services, counsellors and teachers to interact with the kids. Medical help is on call 24 hours a day.
“We are targeting kids in the age group of 7-12 years. They can talk to their parents through a video call once in a day,” she says. The Child Care Centres will host the kids for a week or two or till the parents are back home. The centres don’t charge any fee for the stay.
The programme is funded through contributions from IT firms and other stakeholders.
Three centres
The three centres, located at Hafizpet, Madhuranagar and Nallagandla, are verified and ensure safe stay for children, with all their needs catered to.
“At short notice, we could mobilise the resources and get a few facilities operationalised,” Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar says.
The helpline number 08045811215 works from 9 am to 6 pm.
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