Growing number of orphans The number of children who have lost their parents to Covid-19 is increasing. These children are at great risk of child trafficking, abuse and illegal adoption.
Save the Children is deeply concerned about the growing number of children who have lost parents to COVID-19 in India. Desperate pleas to adopt orphaned children have circulated on social media, leaving them vulnerable to trafficking and abuse.
In India, the number of children who have lost parents to Covid-19 is growing alarmingly. We fear that these children are exposed to child trafficking, illegal adoption and abuse.
in brief:
Danger through social media Calls for support for children who have become Covid 19 orphans are currently circulating on social media. However, these posts put children in danger.
We help children In India, for example, we help affected children with a help hotline and take care of scared children. This year, more than 2,500 children have already called.
Kids aged 2 yrs old baby girl and 2 months old baby boy whose parents have passed away due to Covid. These kids need a home. If anyone close to you is looking for adoption, please contact…
Such posts are alarming and prompted Save the Children to take immediate action. Save the Children is urging people not to share details about orphaned children online, and instead to contact the government helpline 1098, to protect children from falling prey to child traffickers. In order to prevent illegal adoptions, hospitals across the country have reportedly been told to take declarations from sick parents, to confirm who their children should go to in case of their deaths.
Meanwhile, Save the Children operates helplines for children and their caregivers in some Indian states, offering psychological support and someone to listen to during the pandemic. Some calls are from children who have no one else to turn to for help.
“Besides the immediate threat to their safety, we’re also extremely concerned about the toll this crisis is taking on children’s mental health. In many cases, these children will have had to watch their parents suffer without access to oxygen or proper medical care, which is likely to leave them extremely distressed. Children from poorer families might also have to work to support their families, or care for younger brothers or sisters, which means they’ll have to drop out of school, trapping them in a cycle of poverty.”