1

2

Index1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.1 Missing Children in India: The Problem1.2 The Role of Police1.3 The Role of NGOs

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY2.1 SATHI2.2 SARAL SERVICES2.3 Objectives of the Study of Database for Missing Children in India

3. STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY4. FINDINGS: ORGANIZATIONS AND PROCESSES

4.1 Small NGOs4.2 Government Organizations and their processes4.3 Bosco Youth at Risk Program and the HomeLink Network4.4 ChildLine India Foundation and their network

5. FINDINGS: RECORD KEEPING FOR MISSING AND FOUND CHILDREN –SIMILARITIES AND DISSIMILARITIES

5.1 KEY similarities in data base records kept in Government and Non GovernmentOrganizations

5.2 KEY differences in data base records kept in Government and Non GovernmentOrganizations

6. RECOMMENDATIONS6.1 Capability to Search Across databases6.2 Single Database with standard format6.3 Open Architecture and Framework for National Network of missing and found

children7. SUMMARY8. APPENDIX

Appendix A – Copy of Web Page from Home LinkAppendix B – Copy of NCMC FormAppendix C – Web pages from Missing Children – Lost and Found – NationalPortal of Missing and Tracked Children – Kolkata CIDAppendix D: Questionnaire used in the studyAppendix E: Study Team

3

1. Background of the STUDY

From time to time news items such as the following appear in print or electronic media:

“5 kids will go missing the next hour”The Indian Express 4th Feb 2007

“16 children go missing in the Capital every day”The Hindu 4th March 2009

Such news items appearing regularly should, as such, alert us to the problem of missing childrenin India. However, the fact of the matter is that there are only a few of us who are aware of andcan fathom the magnitude of this national problem of missing children.

1.1 Missing Children in India: The Problem

The Nature and Scope of the IssueMissing children in India is a major issue which needs much more concerted and systematicattention than it is getting at the moment. Based on State Police Records, it has been calculatedthat every year more than 44,000 children are reported missing all over the country. Of these,around 11,000 children remain untraced. The numbers can be much higher as, it has beenargued, that many cases of missing children may never be reported because families of thesechildren are from a marginalized background and may not have the access needed to report acase of a missing child.There is evidence to show that across a six year period, the all India trend of reported missingchildren has grown by 12% and the percentage of untraced children has also gone up in thisperiod.

Who are these missing children?The socio-economic spectrum of missing children in India has great range and diversity. Childrenwho leave home or disappear may therefore be categorized as missing, for any one or acombination of reasons which include:

To earn a living To escape abuse To elope To escape perceived threat or stress such as may be caused due to exams or domestic

violence Some are sold to labour contractors or for sex traffickers Some are kidnapped for ransom

4

Missing children is, thus a major and growing problem which gets much less than needed attentionfrom the Centre and State government bodies. However, this problem has been taken up and isbeing addressed by various Not-for-profit non governmental agencies. Unfortunately, theseagencies have different approaches to the issue of Missing children. Some of them have createddatabase using non-standard data entry format. Since the data are stored in non-standard format,they do not talk to each other. This also leads to one great difficulty – namely that when a child isfound it is extremely difficult to search the missing children records and match the child withexisting records. One NGO reported that although the child was who was reported missing byparents had been found by the same agency, the linking of this information actually took morethan a year and restoration of the child to parents got unnecessarily delayed.

1.2 The Role of Police

The Police department in all states have access to a lot of information on missing children byvirtue of the fact that both missing and found children cases have to be reported to the police.These data, however, are available in separate state and central locations and database and arenot effectively utilised as it is not linked and remains as standalone local database. On the part ofState and Central agencies, one sees very little proactive action undertaken to locate the missingchildren by looking at these databases.

When the issue of a 'missing person' is reported to the police station, an entry is made in theGeneral Station Diary (GD). No FIR (First Information Report) is registered by the Policestation, except in certain states where a 'zero FIR' is registered. Zero FIR means that nocrime number is assigned because a missing child does not amount to being considered a case ofcrime. The follow-up for the zero FIR and the GD entry is the same. The SHO (Station HouseOfficer) forwards this information to the Superintendent of Police/Deputy Commissioner of Police,who, in turn, forward it to the office of the Chief of Police. Sometimes, the police stations and theirsupervisory officers also send messages to their counterparts. At the field level, the local policeofficials publicize the particulars of the missing persons in the media by putting out the availableidentification details and photographs. More often than not, the initial efforts to locate the missingperson die down shortly. Sustained efforts to locate the missing children are extremely rare.

State police agencies have their own independent and different sets of procedures for tracing themissing persons. In most states and cities, the information is relayed through a 'Police Notice'.This notice contains information about several other items such as 'vehicles stolen', 'vehiclesrecovered' and 'unclaimed dead bodies'. It is obvious that the information about 'missingpersons/children' gets lost in the bargain and remains almost confined to the level of 'information'only. Even in places where 'Hue and Cry Notices' are sent for locating the missingpersons/children, there is not much difference in the efforts to locate the children.

The message that reaches the Police Headquarters in the state is normally lodged with theMissing Persons Bureau (MPB), which is more often a wing of the CID of the State Police. They, inturn, forward the message to the Missing Persons Wing in the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) at New Delhi. The message also gets relayed to the police chiefs of other states throughpolice wireless. NCRB, at best, forwards this message to the chiefs of police in other states.

5

1.3 The Role of NGOsThe non government agencies have taken considerable interest in the issue of children and areproactive in their efforts to intervene on the issue of runaway, lost, trafficked children. Theexperiences of these organizations vary but it is commonly felt that it is difficult to coordinate,share data or speed up information relay. Further, the visibility of these projects suffers due to lackof awareness and communication to spread that awareness. The tools of technology are notalways user friendly and if software is perceived as difficult to use or problematical, the willingnessquotient of potential users decreases.

2. Objective of the study

It is in this context that Sathi of Bangalore – an organization dedicated to helping children atrailway platforms– proposed and initiated a study on a specific aspect of the problem - namelyattempting to understand how these organizations deal with the data of missing children and towhat degree they can have consistent data that is shared among all who are involved.

Sathi decided to engage Saral Services – A Hyderabad based organisation involved in reducingthe digital divide across different section of the Indian society - to conduct a study of databases ofmissing children in India.

2.1 SATHISATHI (Society for Assistance to Children in Difficult Situation) is a non-profit organizationthat was started in 1992, but was formally registered in the year 1997, in Raichur, Karnataka. Themain office of Sathi is in Bangalore. SATHI works with children on the railway platforms. It rescuesthem from the vagaries of the platform life and provides shelter and care till the time the child isreturned home safely. The core activity of SATHI is ‘home placement’. Its operations are spreadin almost 20 railway stations across the major locations of India viz. Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi,Patna, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bangalore among others.

Sathi’s Vision“Create a safe, secure and nurtured environment for runaway children or childrenseparated from their families so that they may grow up with dignity and care”.

Sathi’s Mission Provide opportunities for children found on streets and railway platforms to grow in a secure

environment with their own families or communities Protect them from any form of abuse or violence Make the policy adopted by key stakeholders (district Child Welfare Committees, police, etc.) and the practice of home placement support into a primary

approach Rehabilitate runaway children to prevent them from returning to the street or railway

platforms.

Sathi’s Objectives Protect children from the risks associated with life on railway platforms Prevent abuse of their rights

6

Provide rehabilitation services to children staying on railway platforms with the ultimateobjective of reuniting them back with their families

Evolve norms, reinforce a sense of self-identity, confidence in their abilities, and family tiesso that they may overcome their feeling of isolation from the family

Propagate, through research, home placement as the priority strategy for rehabilitation Conduct research, compare experiences and data and convince NGOs to participate in this

programme.

2.2 SARAL SERVICESSaral (an acronym for Society for Action Research in Accelerated Livelihood) Services, is a societyregistered under the Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act 2001, launched in 2006 with afocus on working towards reducing the digital divide in the society. The objectives were to

1. Build the IT Capacity of people/agencies working in rural and social sector by encouragingthem to adopt IT skills and applications and

2. Conduct Action Research on application of power of Information and CommunicationTechnology (ICT and such action research work that aims to facilitate innovation in the useof ICT to benefit the disadvantaged.

Under its activities some prominent initiatives of Saral services are:1. SaralTA , (Saral Training Academy) launched in January 2007. It runs four to six month

fully residential ICT training programs for rural, poor and unemployed youth, through a loanand guarantees employment. It aims to build the ICT skills in rural youth that provides thema new livelihood option. Society helped create livelihood for 33 such youth. They aretrained varied skills such as providing maintenance services, coding and testing ofsoftware, teaching computers.

2. Research Study in Using IT for Development. Saral Services from the beginning hasfocused its research study work in the domain of using of IT for Development. One suchsignificant study done since 2007 is in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University andOxford University, Saral conducted nation-wide study of IT use and absorption by MFI andCooperatives Banks and Societies 2006-07. Saral surveyed 160 DCCBs and 50 MFIstelephonically. Study searched for key research questions of extent of use of IT, hurdles inIT absorption and technology options. Study has been published by ICFAI publication in“Microfinance: Exploring the Role of Technology” edited by S Rajagopalan.

2.3 Objectives of the Study of Database for Missing Children in India

Based on discussions between Sathi and Saral Services, a study was undertaken with thefollowing objectives:

7

To study the various approachesand data collection formats ofagencies who are working onsearching of missing children.

To study the database maintainedby three big agencies in terms ofdata structure and quality of data

To recommend the process ofintegration of data that aremaintained in distributed databasesand protocol for maintainingstandard data format

3. STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

We attempted to carry out the work along the following lines Initial research to locate and identify organizations engaged in the issue. Preparation of a questionnaire and administering it through telephone or by direct contact to

all identified organizations. Detailed field visit and interviews with at least 3 organizations Interviews with officials of the National Crime Records Bureau and one-two State-level

Missing Persons Bureaus. Presentation of Study Findings at a National Workshop Final report preparation

Proceeding along these lines, we developed a set of questionnaire (see Appendix) focusing mainlyon the process and information content.We approached the following organisations with the questionnaire and received feedback fromthem:

1. City Educational Society, Vijayawada – Private organisation of small size with Head officein Andhra Pradesh.

2. National Center for Missing Children, Indore – Private organisation, small in size based inMadhya Pradesh.

3. MV Foundation – Private organisation of medium size based in Hyderabad, AndhraPradesh.

4. SVMM –Private organisation of small size based at Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.5. Salaam Balak Trust –Private organisation based at New Delhi6. Youth at Risk (YAR) – Don Bosco – Big Private organisation7. National Missing Persons Bureau under CID in Kolkata, West Bengal – A big size

Government Organisation.8. NCRB – Government - National Commission of

8

In addition to the organizations listed above, we did extensive web search and also studied theannual and other reports generated by different organisations – most notably by Childline IndiaFoundation.

4. FINDINGS: ORGANIZATIONS AND PROCESSESTypes of Organizations dealing with missing children:

Broadly speaking, we found that the organisations dealing with missing children one way oranother fall in the following categories:

Government Agencies

Big Non Government agencies such as Bosco Youth at Risk ( YAR ) program andHomelink network and ChildLine India Foundation and their network

Small NGOs working in their own area either alone or with linkage to the above twoagencies.

All these agencies have different approaches and processes as to how data related to missingchildren are to be collected, collated and handled. While the Government Organisations areinvolved in and attempting to develop NATION WIDE websites and databases related to missingchildren, the two big non governmental agencies mentioned above - Bosco YAR program andChildLine - have developed some IT infrastructure such as websites, database, and software inorder to capture the data of the children they are dealing with. The small organisations, on theother hand very often do not have the adequate IT infrastructure; when linked to the aboveagencies, sometimes they use one of the systems developed or used by the Bosco or ChildLine ortry to keep data manually. We will go into more details of each of the above categories:

4. 1 Small NGOs:

Most of the small NGO organisations are involved in helping children who are found without adultcompanions – typically near major transportation hubs such as railway stations or bus depots. Bysmall we mean organisations that typically employ two to a few hundred employees of whichperhaps twenty odd employees will be involved directly with missing children. As a general rule,the smaller sized NGOs are primarily involved in providing shelter, educational and vocationaltraining to these unaccounted for children – their involvement in missing children area is thereforesecondary in nature. Once they locate a child that requires help they try to provide safe shelter tothese children while at the same time making an attempt to match them with missing childrenrecords.

As an example, here is a typical response from a small NGO when we asked them how they comein contact with children.

9

As another example here is a response to the same question from another small NGO:

Both examples presented above illustrated show similarities in the structure of the basic processinvolved. However, at the same time there are some dissimilarities arising out of nonstandardization of the process. For example in the second NGO there is a mention of a form(complaint/application) which is missing from the other NGO process description. What is apparentis that without the benefit of a common set of structure, procedure and forms, these dedicatedNGOs are forced to devise their own methods and forms which then generate their own set ofproblems in trying to compare records. We will return to these basic observations several timesduring the course of this report.

NCMC, Indore:While discussing small NGO, National Center of Missing Children (NCMC) stands out for itsefforts. NCMC is s small NGO based at Indore devoted exclusively to the issue of missingchildren. NCMC is maintaining its own database of missing children.

Another Example of Process Followed by a small NGO

1) Get the form (complaint/application)2) Ask the missing child basic address

a) if not able the ask for land marks, name of the railway station, etc3) Contact the NGOs from their network in that area.4) If parents/guardian found counsel them5) Hand over the child after confirmation

Note: very difficult to locate track the parents for children below 5 or aboveexceptional cases like deaf and dumb try written conversation)/blind/mentallyhandicapped

A typical process used by a small NGO

1) Catch platform children/street children/police brings a runawaychild2) Take the note of health condition (If improper Govt. hospital)3) Counsel the childa) Find the reasons for runawayb) Educate about realistic threats (begging, human trafficking, drugpeddling, etc)4) Put child in vocational training5) Slowly find whereabouts of parents6) Parents counseling (If Step 5 is successful)7) Handover to parents /guardian (if Step 5 is successful )ORLivelihood education and small finance for micro enterprise

Need less to say that the step 5 mentioned above is one of the most difficultprocess. If Step 5 is not successful then these organisations try to providelivelihood education for these children.

10

In the year 2000, founders of NCMC, an Indore-based couple launched India's first websiteproviding information on missing, lost or kidnapped children in order to help their families and law-enforcing agencies to trace them.

The website, www.missingindiankids.com, has listings under five zones which are clearly markedon a map of India. Currently, the number of missing children in its database seems to containapproximately 500 records across five zones in India.

Each listing is accompanied by a photograph and identification marks of the missing or kidnappedchild along with other details.

The website also contains a web poster for each missing child to enable people to take printoutsand paste them in public places.

Sections like guidelines on prevention of child abduction and steps to take in emergency situationsare also provided.

4.2 Government Organizations and their processes:

The most important Government Entities directly involved with missing children are lawenforcement agencies at local level. If a child is declared missing by the parent or guardian, then itis the local Police Station (PS) that takes in a missing complaint. Similarly, if a child is found byanyone without a guardian accompanying the child, that child needs to be reported as found in thenearest PS who are supposed to put the child in appropriate safe custody – often in the care of thesame NGO which might have found the child in the first place.

In our interaction with Kolokata CID they described to us the process, as shown below, they followin dealing with a child that has been found:

11

Abandonedchild is found

by Police/NGOs

Reporting to nearestPS (in case child is

found by NGO)

Send the childin Juvenile

Justice Home

Get information fromchild; take data ofhis/her physical

appearance

Upload the data in NICserver

Searching/ matchingthe NIC databasewhether child withsimilar informationhas been reportedmissing

MPB-CID publishphoto and information

in TV, Newspaper

Child is sendback to JJ Home

Filling of R-Form(Recovery Form) by the

parents at PS level

Matched Matched

Not matched

Again data of R-Form is entered to computer atPS level, sent to DCRB, uploaded to NIC server

Verification ofthe child andparents withM-Form andlocal people

Handing over thechild to parents

No response

Response comes

Verification done at PS &locality

12

Similarly, when a child is declared missing by the parent/guardian the process followed is shownbelow:

Filing missingcomplaint at

Police Station

Filling M-Form(Missing Form) with

all information

Entry of datafrom M-Formto computer

Scanning of photo ofthe missing child

Data send to DistrictCrime Report Bureau

(DCRB) via online

DCRB send data to NIC(National Informatics

Centre) server

Now all informationof the state can beaccessed from NIC

website

Searching/matching the NICdatabase whether

any child withsimilar informationis found abandoned

(till date kept atJuvenile Justice

Home)

Verification ofthe child andparents withM-Form andlocal people

MPB-CID publishphoto and information

in TV, Newspaper

Handing over thechild to parents

Child is sendback to JJ Home

Filling of R-Form(Recovery Form)by the parents at

PS level

Matched Matched

Not matched

Not matched

Again data of R-Form is entered to computer atPS level, sent to DCRB, uploaded to NIC server

No response

Response comesVerification done at PS &

locality

13

It was observed that:

There is a process followed by Kolkata CID – that is reasonably simple There are specific forms ( M form and R form ) that the usage of this process mandates There is an attempt to collect and combine data from the district level

Kolkata CID puts together data from District Crime Records Bureau ( DCRB) into state level StateCrime Records Bureau (SCRB). At the national level, NCRB data is supposed to be pulledtogether from the SCRBs to form the national level database.

However, it appears that these processes are not working well. For example, in our interview withNCRB, they said that there were 419 records in the database, where as looking at the data at thewebsite http://trackthemissingchild.gov.in/missing/gallery_misusing.php, it appears that at thepresent time, there are close to ten thousand records for missing children maintained by WestBengal SCRB alone.

It is not confirmed whether the same processes as used by Kolkata CID are also being followedby other state CIDs or not. If the processes and forms followed by other states vary then thecomplexity of coordination between agencies in dealing with missing and found children increases.Our interview with Kolkata CID reveals that there is work being done at NIC to extend similardatabases to other states, notably Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi, but theplan is still in the initial stages.

One of the major problem seems to be that there is very little nation wide coordination of missingchildren data that is used by the local authorities and organizations across the country. In otherwords, there is no ONE SOURCE for data for missing children in India that being used asauthoritative by all agencies.

Some of the Organisations, both government and non government are providing a mechanism toaccess and search database of missing and found children. The smaller organisations sometimesaccess these databases both for placing new records as well as when trying to determine whethera child that has been found has already been declared missing or not. As we shall discuss, thedatabases are at a stage where matching is a particularly difficult process.

NCRB:The NCRB, under the TALASH Information System, maintains a national level database of'Persons Arrested, Wanted, Kidnapped, Deserters, Escapees, Un-identified persons, Un-identifieddead bodies and Proclaimed offenders'. According to a ChildLIne India study in 2007, TheTALASH database of NCRB, as on August 2003, had 2, 01,710 items, including 1, 09,626 recordsof missing persons.

In the NCRB, inputs to the TALASH system are received through wireless messages, fax,magnetic media, periodical statements and e-mails from State / UT Police and Central PoliceOrganisations (CPOs). According to the Director, NCRB, the database is regularly updated and

14

monthly reports are generated. As and when a query is received, it is processed and the resultsare disseminated to the concerned agencies. NCRB decided to build a database on 'traced / foundchildren' by matching their information against the 'missing children'. The idea was that thisinformation would be provided to the general public without any charge. However, despite bestintentions, we believe that the database maintained here is not properly synchronized and to thatextent it may not serve as THE ONE Database in the country.

4.3 Bosco Youth at Risk Program and the HomeLink Network

DON BOSCO came to India in 1906 and started religious work which has now spread out to 400centers through out the country. They also worked in the area of education. Each of thesecenters started schools and training centers. In 1974, DON BOSCO started new program “Youngat Risk (YAR)”. Under the program, DON BOSCO worked on issues of missing children inaddition to handicap children. It expanded to 70 centers of DON BOSCO.

YAR office of DON BOSCO at Delhi is the National level network operation and that providestechnical support to all the local level YAR offices. Each of the YAR offices (other than Nationaloffice) is engaged in identifying children and identifying parents. In addition to other activities suchas medication, schooling, training, Job providing etc. are also taken by the centers. National officebecame center for technical support to all centers. In last two years they have also started theautomation of this support using Homelink.

Homelink has been started by YAR National office to provide documenting tools for the staff.Homelink also helps in monitoring all the activities for children of YAR. In addition, Homelink hasbecome a platform where NGO, who is working for children, can link for services and getbenefited. There are 68 NGOs working for children, who have been linked on YAR network. YARword as been chosen as it has secular appeal.

BOSCO ITS, at Yellagiri, Tamil Nadu is working on software solutions and have provided solutionsacross the globe. BOSCO has set up a company for software development. Fr. Thadeus is theCEO of the company. The company has several applications such as staff management systems,caring community follow up systems, volunteer management systems etc. Homelink has beendeveloped by BOSCO ITS. To avail the services through homelink, NGO pays nominal fees Rs.10,000/- for software loading, training and supporting it for a year.

Current version of the software is 3.7. There has been some issues and new requirement andhence new version is being awaited. The present Homelink application has 1,45000 records ofchildren. However, only 68,000 are the current data. Rest has been graduated from the systemthrough home placement of Job placement.

4.4 ChildLine India Foundation and their network

CHILDLINE India Foundation is a non-profit organization that functions as a nodal agency forCHILDLINEs across India. CHILDLINE 1098 is a 24-hour, free, emergency phone service forchildren in India. CHILDLINE functions through a network of over 200 organisations spread acrossstates of the country. CHILDLINE is operational in 81 cities in 25 states in India. 1098 is theChildline helpline number.

15

CHILDLINE was a project started by a team of people led by a social worker and faculty memberof the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. After doing research among the street children ofMumbai city they concluded that the children wanted and needed a service that they could accessafter the other offices and services closed. The idea of an Emergency telephone number was notimmediately accepted by people in the community as it was thought to be an ‘elite western’concept that children on the street would never use.

However, the team through their survey managed to convince Government of India and theproject was started. Four years after the project was initiated, there was the inauguration ofCHILDLINE on 20th of June 1996 in the city of Mumbai.

In 1998, CHILDLINE partnered with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Governmentof India to take the CHILDLINE service to 30 cities.

As per the 2007-2008 annual report, CHILDLINE is functional in 82 cities/districts in 22 States and3 Union Territories through its network of 196-partner organisations across India. 1098 has nowmatured to become a very significant instrument of change in the lives of children in distress andchildren recognise this service. A total of 13,563,300 Calls from inception till March 2008 and atotal of 2,146,729 Calls for the financial year April 2007 - March 2008.

5. FINDINGS: RECORD KEEPING FOR MISSING AND FOUND CHILDREN – SIMILARITIESAND DISSIMILARITIES

The similarities and dissimilarities of database records and access methods for differentorganisations were studied in detail. The Appendices A, B, C contain copies of web interfaces ofHomeLink application, the NCMC missing children form, and the web interfaces for Kolkata CIDMissing Children Bureau – these might help the reader to understand these findings better.

5.1 KEY similarities in data base records kept in Government and Non GovernmentOrganizations:

A key similarity is that most of these organisations allow people to enter records of missing andfound children. Several of them allow people to browse through and search for records of missingand found children.

There are several common fields for data entry for these records. Some of these common fieldsare

Name ( last name, first name, nick name if any) Date of Birth Religion Mother tongue Identification Marks Physical appearance – Eye Colour, Hair Colour, Complexion Details of clothes Date of Missing Place of Missing

16

Parental and family details Educational background Address and contact information Police complaint number

5. 2 KEY differences in data base records kept in Government and Non GovernmentOrganizations:

However, a quick comparison of data entry forms shows several issues with the data. Mostimportant among these are:

Forms do not have standardized Fields (Data fields are not same in all forms):

For instance the NCMC form asks whether the child wears glasses or not where as theHomeLink as well as Kolkata CID data fields do not seem to ask for that explicitly.

No standardization of the form containing these data fields:

In most forms, data items are free formatted. This makes it very difficult to ensure uniformityof descriptions.

Another important example is there is no standardization as to what should be put in thefield for Place of Missing or Place where last found: This is left blank in many examples thatwe saw on the Kolkata CID data base; for example the data field is found to be empty or thestandard phrase “From the house” is used. It should be appreciated that the place ofmissing if filled appropriately could be one of the good search criteria.

No basic check on data entered:

In many records of children found that we browsed through, we found thata) there is no image of the child found,b) body weight is entered as zero kg and

c) place of finding the child is not mentioned

No standard and easy field for searching:

The search item that we found that was being used the most is the name of the child. It isvery interesting to note that while the State District and Police Station ( PS) in the districtplays a very important role in reporting missing and found children, there is no mechanismto search the records using these as search parameters. Similarly, there is no way tosearch by age of the missing child.

Difficult to compare databases across the organisations:

17

Given the fact that there are at least four to five major sources of data on missing and foundchildren – the State Crime Record Bureaus (SCRBs), the NCRB, NCMC, HomeLink,ChildLine – several questions come to mind:

Lack of a proper mechanism for synchronization of databases

For the NCRB and SCRB there seems to be a mechanism for uploading – but that processis manual and moreover there is no mechanism to ensure whether it is being doneregularly.

We are also not aware if there is any process to synchronize the all the databases

Lack of Pull approach – There is only Push approach in the present state. Thus only ifSCRB reports a missing child, NCRB updates its database. Otherwise database is notupdated and differences remain. Even if the child is found, but if it is not reported by SCRB,this does not reach NCRB. If the Pull approach is adopted there will be constant effort forsynchronization of data, removal of duplicates, updating the status.

Which Database to report in or to search for a missing child?

At present it seems that a parent or a guardian whose child is missing has to either enter orsearch for records at multiple databases. Moreover, several organisations have informed ofthe difficulties faced as it is not easy to get records across jurisdictions. Although browsingrecords of different state police databases is possible the process is manual and thusdifficult to do in a systematic and organised way.

For example, we could go to the websitehttp://www.tnpolice.gov.in/ListMissing.asp?uview=CH&year=2009 to find the records ofmissing children in Tamil Nadu in 2009, but how do we combine such a search withsearches on the other databases? Interestingly, while the West Bengal site allow a personto click on a link and report sighting of the child, the Tamil Nadu website does not have thatfacility. Similarly, the Tamil Nadu records seems to be keeping records by the calendar yearwhere as the West Bengal website does not allow that.

Language Medium used:

In all the websites, we found that medium of information is English. Although West Bengalwebsite indicated the intention of using Hindi and Bangla but that does not seem to be thecase as yet.

No use of biometrics :

In particular, we do not see evidence of collecting and matching bio markers in this process.For example, if the DNA sample of the parents is kept it might provide an opportunity ofquick matching against found children. However, for reasons we have not explored – beprobably financial, legal, societal – these biomarkers do not seem to find a place in thesystem yet.

18

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

There is an acute need for the Government, the Allied services, the Corporate, Development andCitizen sectors to converge to achieve a common goal - the protection of the rights of children whomay be lost, missing or separated from their guardians and families. This collective initiative of allabove agencies requires coordination among them, some commonality of approach andprocesses for these efforts to be most effective. All these players must come together to addressthe following basic major requirements which have emerged from this study:

Ability to Search across databases by standardization of Databases with a singlemandated format

Adopting Pull approach for maintaining the child database- so that there is constanteffort for synchronization of data, removal of duplicates, updating of the status ensuringfaster and accurate searches and linkages of .missing children.

Development of a Single Open National Network for reporting and tracking missingchildren.

Using properly IT trained staff to use the IT search engines for locating/ linking missingchildren. In case of small NGOs, it was discovered that staff is not IT trained to use theinternet to check NCRB database or other State databases that are readily availableon the net.

We have therefore made a set of recommendations to address each of the above:

6. 1 Capability to Search Across databases

For the benefit of missing children and parents, there is an urgent need for a search process and asearch engine that scans all the existing databases namely Childline, Homelink, NCMC and NCRBdatabases. Let us call the search engine SearchChild. SearchChild will give all the matchesfrom all the databases in ONE SINGLE search operation. Technically it is possible to make sucha search engine. However, for this to become a reality there is a need for cross dialogue,cooperation, and collaboration among the existing players to create the right ecosystem.

Such effort has to be started with a mandate of a competent agency working on missingchildren. Development of such an engine should be initiated by this competentcommitted agency. There can be several options for the institutional structure capableof taking up such a task. Since the institutional structure is not the focus of the study,we have not explored this in any detail. However, a semi government agency or aprivate public partnership might be best suited for this as it can have the efficiency ofNGO and legitimacy of a government.

While Childline and Don Bosco operate from one single but different database, NCRBdoes not have one single database. State level CRB databases are different thoughthey have same data structure. For the search engine to operate effectively all thesedatabase need to have web services as layer for interface. All of them are to be

19

available on Internet all the time. Suitable web services are to be developed by themand made available 24X7 so that a common search procedure can perform a seamlesssearch operation..

Such a search engine should be available for all the three Networks. It will also be theincentive for them to cooperate.

6. 2 Single Database with standard format:

There is currently no one single database, nor is there a standard format. To create a standardformat and a single database is a technically viable concept. While data entry can be made intodifferent databases, all these data can be synchronized with one single database particularly if theentry format is made uniform. Number of records in this database must be the sum total ofnumber of records in rest of the database maintained. There will be tools to remove duplicationsand to arrive at correct and updated database. Such an effort may be called NationalChildDB

For this to be viable, the institutional structure is key. For it to have legitimacy as onedatabase for the nation, it probably has to be a Government entity. For example, theDeparment of women and child Development of Government of India may take up suchan initiative of creating one standard format for keeping data on missing children andmaintaining one national database.

Cooperation of all existing networks such as Don Bosco, ChildLine and NCRB is amust. Therefore, database structures, process of synchronization with one databasehave to come through intensive dialogue with them.

We are inspired by the recent Unique Identification (UID) initiative by the Indiangovernment and we strongly recommend that this UID should be used in the system asmuch as possible.

There is a need for building suitable web services and time schedule for dailysynchronization. Need for 24X7 Internet connection to Network database is not must.

There is a need of a strong monitoring system that ensures regular synchronization andremoval of duplications.

The universal search engine SearchChild proposed above must be made compatiblewith this National database and it should be made accessible from all over India.

6. 3 Open Architecture and Framework for National Network of missing and found children

Since there are 100s of NGOs who are not yet part of any network, it is possible to build a newnational network as a green field project based on open architecture. For example since SATHIhas more than 20 years of experience in working with missing children, it could take the lead todevelop and set up such a network which may be called OpenSATHI network. From thebeginning, the new network will be based on open network concept and will be developed with

20

web services open architecture to enable easy compatibility with other databases. For OpenSATHIto be viable and effective, the following points need to be addressed:

Institutional Structure: It is possible and is in fact suggested that the new networkentity may be promoted by SATHI management with a mission of creating network thatis proactive in sharing, collaborating and having open access to all the database. Thenew network should draw upon learning of all existing networks and databases dealingwith missing children in India and should be build upon the foundation of open sharingof database, database application and collaboration.

OpenSATHI network will need to setup a database and enabling IT tools for search,security, online collaboration and web services to make this happen.

Enabling IT is the key platform for providing online collaboration and security andaccess and must be used creatively.

As and when there is sufficient trust level with other network partners, a e-bridge iscreated using suitable web services and progressively move towards developingSearchChild web based tools that scans multiple databases registered for search.

IT trained staff be deployed so that they use the power of IT in assisting missingchildren and parents. It would mean train the partners in the network and staff workingfor them in IT search engines and database handling.

7. SUMMARY:

Driven by the need to understand how the databases on missing children is created, maintainedand used by different organisation involved in this area of work, we have studied the subjectthrough direct contact with a sample of these organisations. We have documented the similaritiesand dissimilarities existing in the current practices and methods and have made a fewrecommendations that we believe will help. We sincerely hope that these recommendations aretaken forward and some meaningful practical steps are taken.

21

Appendix A – Copy of Web Page from Home Link

22

23

24

Appendix B – Copy of NCMC Form

25

26

Appendix C – Webpages from Missing Children – Lost and Found – National Portal of Missingand Tracked Children – Kolkata CID

27

28

29

APPENDIX D: Questionnaire used in the studyStudy of database and methodology of agencies engaged in missing children issues -

Questionnaire

Basic Information about the Agency: Name: Address:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Web site (if any): Contact number: Contact person: EmailId of the Contact Person:

About the Agency: Please specify the type of the agency - Government or Private How many people are employed by the agency?: How many of the employees are engaged in missing children issues? In which States in India does the agency operate

How many districts does the agency operation cover? Please provide the location and contact address for branch offices

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please add additional page for more branches

Agency Charter:

With respect to the missing children what is your principal charter? Please tick as many asapplicable:

Helping parents with missing children with registering police complaints, and gettinginformation from themFinding unclaimed / abandoned children and help them to find temporary homesHelping parents with missing children to contact different municipal/ state and nationalorganisationGiving shelter to children without home and helping them reunite with their parents.Any thing else – Please describe it in one or two sentences

30

Contacting the Agency :

Which of the following entities contact you on a regular basis? Please tick as many asapplicable

Law enforcement agencies ( police?)Parents/relatives whose child are missingSomeone /organization who has encountered a missing child?Someone /organisation who has located a child reported as missing?Other agencies involved in missing child activitiesOther ( Please specify)

How do these people contact you?Over phoneOver emailOver the internet ( web based)Visiting your office

What document do these people fill up? Please give us hard or soft copies of the document

Agency's Network (contacts):

Which organisations does your agency contact on a regular basis? Please mention names

At the city or municipality level ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the District level --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the State level --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the National level --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How often do you contact these agencies?Almost every dayOnce or Twice a weekSeveral times a month, as neededMaybe once in six monthsOther ( Please specify)

When you contact a Government agency about a missing child, what are the typicalreasons for making the contact?

31

To report a child declared as missingTo report a child found without a legal guardianTo seek permission to transfer a child to another agencyTo get official documents regarding a missing childOther ( Please specify)

When you contact a non government agency about a missing child, what are the typicalreasons for making the contact?

To share information about a child declared as missingTo share information about a child found without a legal guardianTo retrieve information about lost children in the other agency’s databaseTo find shelter for a childTo help a parent search for his/her missing child in other parts of the countryTo reunite a child with his/her familyOther ( Please specify)

Information exchange with other agencies or individuals :

When you contact a law enforcement agency ( police / department of women and childwelfare ) or they contract you, what are the most exchanged data items? ( Choose all thatapplies)

Name of ChildLocation where the child was last seen or where the child has been foundName location of reporting parent/guardian/or any other personDescription of the child, including clothes, physical attributes, special marksIdentification of the reporting person( such as voter id? Ration card number?)Missing child identification number, if any?

How is this information transmittedOn telephoneBy EmailPaper documentOther

What record is kept of such transaction? Please describe.

When you contact a parent whose child has been missing or they contract you, OR whenyou contact another non governmental agency about a missing child what are the mostexchanged data items? ( Choose all that applies)

Name of ChildLocation where the child was last seen or where the child has been foundName location of reporting parent/guardian/or any other personDescription of the child, including clothes, physical attributes, special marksIdentification of the reporting person( such as voter id? Ration card number?)Missing child identification number, if any?

32

What is the mode of the above information exchange and what record is kept?On telephoneBy EmailPaper documentOther

While exchanging information about a missing child, what mechanism do you and otheragencies/ parents use to ensure that you are both discussing the same child? Pleasedescribe

Enquiries regarding Agency's IT infrastructure

What are the different activities that are automated in the agency ( searching for a child or aparent through the current local database or through partner database etc)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does the agency has an stand alone application or website to maintain database------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Structure of the database ( fields, tables and their relations)◦ What forms are used?◦ Does the agency produce periodic reports from such databases?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Technical details about data updation (either through website or application)------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does the agency have an history of all the children they had contact with.◦ Can the agency retrieve information regarding how many missing children it dealt with in

the last month, last three months, last six month, and the last year?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Technical details about the search facilities used by the agency to locate a child or a parent------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

33

Does the agency make use of any national database, does it download information fromany national database? What is the mechanism for such transaction ( manual / automated).How is such information used?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Describe the Process involved in the following: ( Use additional sheet if needed)

Locating Parents: Describe the flow of events and actions which start with the placewhere the host agency finds the child to the process involved in retrieving information from thechild. Describe how this information flows through the agency’s own database, how it is sharedwith its network of partners (within the state or outside the state), and finally if the parent/guardianis located what is the process of handing over the child. Please also mention the most frequentlyencountered difficulties in these steps.

Please mention what process is followed for children with physical and / or metal disabilities ( suchas deaf and dumb, blind, or mentally challenged).

Please Describe the Process involved in the following: ( Use additional sheet if needed)

Locating Children: Starting with where the complaint or information given by the parent,please describe how this information is processed in the agency’s database or partner agency'sdatabase, how this information is shared with the partners in case not found in the currentdatabase. Finally describe if the child is located how the child is brought back to the home stateand handed over to the parent / guardian.

Please mention what process is followed for children with physical and / or metal disabilities ( suchas deaf and dumb, blind, or mentally challenged).

Please Describe the Process involved in the following: ( Use additional sheet if needed)

Collecting data: Please make a list of the data collected when a child is described missingor a child is found without a parent or a guardian. Describe the process by which this information iscollected, stored and shared. What is the most frequently encountered in collecting, and sharingdata? Please specifically mention any legal / judicial obstacle in these processes

Please mention what process is followed for children with physical and / or metal disabilities ( suchas deaf and dumb, blind, or mentally challenged).

34

Finally Please describe What will help the Agency to fulfill its charter:

In the area of missing children what are the gaps in information / data that makes your jobhardest to achieve?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While networking with other agencies in the context of missing children information whatare the most difficult or persistent problems ( legal, social, technological, infrastructural) youface?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What are the three to five things in the area of generation, retrieval or sharing of dataregarding missing children that will help you the most?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

35

Appendix E: Study Team

Name DesignationDr. Utpal Chatopadyaya TL (Survey Specialist)Subodh Kumar Gupta Data base SpecialistSmita Rawat EditingR.S.K Sharma InvestigatorSamrat Kumar Gosh InvestigatorSaraswathi InvestigatorGiridhari Bora Investigator

36

Bibliography

LiteratureName of publication Author

Missing children ChildlineIndiaChildnet Book-I ChildlineIndiaChildnet Book-II ChildlineIndia

Websiteswww.NCRB.nic.inwww.Childline.org.inwww.Donboscoindia.comwww.MissingIndiankids.comwww.Missingchildrenindia.comhttp://www.tn.nic.in/socialdefence/mcb.htmhttp://www.kidsmissing.com/http://www.ncmc.org/KidsMissingAlert/080215kmalert.htmhttp://www.mscen.org/http://www.careindia.org/http://www.compu.net/mtmcf/http://homelink.in/Index.aspxwww.missingchildsearch.nethttp://www.children-of-bangalore.com/child.htmwww.missingkids.orgwww.children-missing.orgwww.childquest.orgwww.lostchildren.orgwww.klaaskids.orgwww.Mvfindia.in