Runaway children, found and returned to parents by SOFOSH

Pune, April 02

Taking the form of a rather touching tale yet uncannily resembling a filmy saga, a seven-year-old boy fled his home in Ahmednagar after hearing that his parents were planning to send him to a remand house. He also dragged his four-year-old sister into the chaos of busy streets, crowded buses and thronging trains. Fortunately, having boarded a bus from Pune to Solapur, the siblings were noticed and handed over to Solapur Childline, who contacted Society of Friends of the Sassoon Hospitals (SOFOSH) here in Pune on March 23. At SOFOSH, after a day's play and acquaintance, attempts to find out their parents' whereabouts, through cajoling, began.

Madhuri Abhyankar, Head of SOFOSH, said, “The boy wasn't ready to divulge his address, obviously afraid of his fate upon encountering an angry father. He kept leading us astray around Pune Railway Station. But later he gave out the real address – Daund.” Three SOFOSH's volunteers left for Daund and made enquiries about missing cases in police stations and railway stations. After some persuasion, the boy said his paternal aunt resided in Daund. The aunt, away in Mumbai, was unavailable that day but upon her return was approached by the police and readily identified the children as her nephew and niece. She informed the children's parents in Ahmednagar that the children had been found. It turns out the doting parents had been frantically looking for the missing children, having even published a plea for help in a newspaper.

The parents also had some difficulty procuring the children from the child welfare committee, as they couldn't provide any proof of the fact that the children belonged to them. But all was well in the end as the parents managed to provide enough proof.

The sad part of the story is that such incidents — children running away from their homes — is rampant in poverty stricken families such as these with both the parents working and hence wishing to put some of their children in remand houses of sorts. “We are incessantly approached by such parents, burdened by several children, asking us to house some of their children until they turn eighteen,” said Deepika Maharajsingh, a committee member of SOFOSH, “We plan to counsel the parents of the found children regarding diet, upbringing and discipline and instigate them to be self-reliant.”

On the occasion of the opportune meeting of the parents with the children, SOFOSH also celebrated by holding a handing over and blessing ceremony. The happy parents with their children in tow completed the segment of a happy ending.