Because children deserve safe and happy childhoods

Workshops

A recent school survey conducted by Outlawed India shows that the majority of school-going children in India have never had an opportunity to attend workshops on child sexual abuse.

How can a child know when they're in an unsafe situation, even if it's with someone whom they know from their family or neighbourhood? How can a child start to talk about what they've faced when they don't have the vocabulary for it, or are too confused and scared to raise the topic with their parents? How can a care-giver respond appropriately without blaming the child or forcing them to re-live their trauma? We are implementing a workshop programme for children, parents and teachers to teach them how to navigate such situations.

We are collaborating with schools and NGOs in Mumbai to deliver these workshops to children and the responsible adults around them, to help us identify children who have been abused and guide parents to intervene promptly to stop ongoing abuse.

College Student Clubs

College students make up an integral part of our vision to change societal mindsets around crucial issues such as gender inequality and different forms of violence, including domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, child marriage, female foeticide and acid attacks.

We are working with team members studying on college campuses to initiate student clubs. These clubs are intended to bring together like-minded students to carry out offline activities like art-based competitions, plays and interactive seminars/ documentary screenings related to our focus areas. If you're a college student or staff member and are interested in organizing an activity at your college, do reach out to us by filling this form.

Through student clubs, we wish to empower students to recognize and constructively challenge attitudes or mindsets that indirectly support or facilitate different forms of violence. By tackling these relevant but difficult topics, the activities organized by these clubs will help to sensitize students, professors and staff members living on campus. The aim is to develop a sense of collective responsibility to take transformative action, while creating an environment where survivors can feel comfortable reaching out to close friends and professional counselors for support.

POCSO Support Persons

Complex emotions such as fear, guilt and shame make it difficult for a child who has faced sexual abuse to take the first step to speak to an adult. In turn, adults and family members are often daunted by the social stigma surrounding these crimes. The fear of re-traumatization by authorities and lack of knowledge about legal procedures lead to many families choosing to stay quiet about the abuse. As a result, the mental health needs of the child victim are not addressed and the child is expected to heal on their own. Unfortunately, the abuser also goes unpunished and the likelihood of other children being abused is high.

POCSO Act defines the crucial role of a support person in guiding child survivors and their caregivers through the various procedures in a case of child sexual abuse (Explore the Infographics above by clicking on the arrows). The support person protects the rights and dignity of the child throughout the process. Additionally, she would ensure that the child's mental health is taken care of by a professional counselor.

We are working to hire and train social workers in Mumbai to offer these services for rehabilitation. With our intervention, we hope that reporting rates to the police would increase, helping to ensure the safety of not just the child survivor but also other children in the same community.

Counselling Programme

Research studies investigating the impacts of child sexual abuse consistently show that the trauma caused by sexual abuse can lead to long-term effects on mental health, such as conversion disorder, borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal tendencies, self-harm, depression and substance abuse. While parents might assume that their child is safe because they have been able to stop the abuse, they might not realize that the effects of sexual abuse can linger and lead to such severe mental health conditions later in life.

Just as physical injuries sustained as a result of violence need to be treated promptly by doctors, timely intervention by mental health professionals is crucial to prevent or minimize mental health impacts on the child. With professional guidance, children who have been abused can heal and ultimately overcome their past trauma.

We are assembling a team of mental health professionals who will be trained and mentored by senior counselors having extensive experience in trauma-focused counselling for child sexual abuse survivors. They would assess the status of the child survivor and accordingly develop a personalized counselling plan to help them in their journey of healing.

Social Media Campaigns

We have made the first steps towards developing social media campaigns, and there is a long way to go yet. We wish to connect with every adult and every child using social media. For adults, it's crucial to learn about child sexual abuse and its effects so that they can be better equipped to keep children safe. Not just as parents keeping their own children safe, but all children around them- younger siblings and cousins, children in the community, in their housing society, children at schools and hospitals, children coming to the police station to report POCSO crimes, children they see everyday. It falls to us, as responsible adults, to create a safety network around every child so that they never have to think twice about whom to tell, or wonder about who will really help them. So that they never have worry about being blamed for what happened, or fear that they will not be believed. So that there's always someone to turn to, in times of need. And so that the signs of abuse don't go unnoticed, ignored or forgotten.

For children, it's important to know that simply staying away from strangers isn't enough to keep them safe. It's important to realize that unsafe situations can arise with anyone, even someone whom they know or depend upon. They must learn the vocabulary to be able to tell adults that they have been sexually abused. They need to know that it's not their fault, even if an adult tells them so. They need to know it's natural to feel confused or guilty, but that there will also be people to help them work through those emotions. That even a single unsafe touch cannot be accepted, forgiven or ignored. That they shouldn't have to stay quiet about it, or have to keep secrets from those who love them. That the abuse can stop, and that they won't be in trouble for what has happened to them. That they are more powerful than they realize.

Our social media campaigns are meant to complement our workshop programme as a means to build awareness and inspire action, to transform the very societal mindsets that force children to stay quiet and make adults feel helpless when it comes to reporting these crimes.

If you would like to help us out with any of the above programmes or would just like to know more, do visit the Join Us page for more details or sign-up for our next online orientation!

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