The lockdown was a wonderful time to spend with family… right?
Ever since the pandemic forced us into lockdowns, the world has adopted online platforms to stay connected with their friends and family. But children, especially from marginalized and invisible sections of the society, like the ones who live in orphanages, foster homes, as well as child labourers, have been the silent collateral victims of the lockdown. Pre-pandemic, dozens of volunteers and well-wishers would visit orphanages to share their joy, celebrate their birthdays, or just spend time sharing knowledge. Volunteer visits to the orphanages completely stopped after the lockdown, and unlike most parents, most of the caretakers at these institutions made little to no efforts to encourage the children to stay connected with their schoolmates or learn and grow with online resources.
Orphanages in India are home to not only those without parents or guardians but also to children from poor socio-economic backgrounds, where their parents can’t provide for them(Juvenile Justice Care And Protection of Children Act, India). I found out from the 2–3 orphanages I was closely associated with, that local authorities had instructed the caretakers in almost all orphanages across the country to send these children home. Parents of such children are daily wage workers who’ve lost their jobs and can’t even provide for the daily needs of their children, let alone mental needs. Some of these orphanages wired the parents a stipulated amount of money to help ensure that the child gets the proper care and nutrition, that they would otherwise get in the Child Care Institutions(CCIs), but most of these parents are alcoholics, and the money wouldn’t serve the intended purpose. These children were raised in the CCIs and constantly surrounded by other children, who have almost become family to them. Not only are these children away from those they almost spend every day of their life with but are living in homes where they face emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no place is safe, and most of us are not Okay, but we are privileged enough to be surrounded by family and friends, at least virtually, who are willing to offer a virtual- helping hand.
Every now and then, I hear someone in my family or, even on the news broadcast, talk about how the pandemic has been the most rewarding to children who don’t have to go to schools and are enjoying at home. It surprises me how they forget that for some children, school is their refuge and being home a deprivation, while, for others, school- with its bullying and social interactions-is where all their stress is held, and they’re much happier to be home. Children from marginalised groups most often fall into the former. These children who studied in government schools neither have the resources, such as smartphones or the teachers who are willing to go the extra mile to provide quality education online. Their parents become frustrated and anxious as they lose their jobs or experience pay cuts, and this frustration can unintentionally channel into interactions with their children.
While the exploitation of marginalised groups of children is a grave concern, it is not to say that the children from high-income families don’t have their issues. Nelson Mandela had once said, ‘there can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.’ If this is true indeed, then what does the 95 percent increase in consumption of child pornography1,2 tell us about the ‘soul of our society’? How does it reflect on our society, when amidst a pandemic that has killed about 65000, and affected around 35 million people in India, the rate of online child pornography consumption shoots up by 95 percent?
“The spike in child porn consumption during the lockdown period shows the huge presence of paedophiles, child rapists, and child pornography addicts online. This makes the internet — which is used for everything from playing indoor games, socialising and online classes by children — extremely unsafe for them because of the threat of cyber-trafficking, grooming (the act of befriending a child, and sometimes the family, to lower the child’s inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse), sextortion, sexting, live streaming of child sexual abuse,” Maharashtra’s Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said.
When we throw statistics and claim that children are less vulnerable to this infection and hence the least affected by the pandemic, we are totally disregarding the umpteen number of ways that this pandemic has affected the children. Yet, when we do return to normalcy and the children return to orphanages, the regimentation and the indifference to individual differences in children’s habits and needs; and most of all, the limited access to caregivers, who in some institutions can be responsible for more than 20 children at a time, can be a major bottleneck in helping the children. Furthermore, research3 had found orphans to be more depressed, more anxious, less optimistic about the future, and more likely to express anger feelings and have more disruptive behaviors compared to nonorphans. Children who are orphaned may suffer a loss of a former secure attachment, which has been suggested could put them at heightened risk of developing depression. Unless the government intervenes to find a solution, the responsibility of the well-being of these children rests in our hands. While there’s not much we can do while these children are in their homes with no access to virtual platforms, there is quite a lot we can do when these children return back to schools and CCIs. Psychiatrists and psychologists, or even one of us, college students, can visit these children and have casual conversations or counseling sessions. Volunteers can increase their engagement with these children, and not limit themselves to former methods of involvement. NGOs and individuals can work closely with government schools to increase awareness among children as well as provide the care these children will need. The people who only went to these institutions to donate books, clothes, or other supplies, should consider spending more time engaging with these children. Only by working collectively can we keep millions of girls and boys — including those who have been uprooted by conflict, children living with disabilities, and girls at risk of violence — healthy, safe, and learning.
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