The SOS Coordination Centre, an arm of the public education component of the ‘Never Give up on a Child’ (NGUP) advocacy initiative of the SOS Children’s Villages Sri Lanka (SOS CVSL), acts as a referral mechanism linking vulnerable children who are at the risk of losing parental care with service providers.
The Centre, set up in Piliyandala at the National Office of SOS CVSL in consultation with the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Affairs, Department of Probation and Child Care and the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) is at present operative in the Districts of Anuradhapura, Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, Matara, Moneragala and Nuwara Eliya, where ‘Family Strengthening Programs’ and related ancillary projects of SOS CVSL function.
“However, the service will be expanded to other districts, eventually, on the need and availability of resources,” says, Chathuri Jayasooriya, National Advisor-Advocacy, SOS CVSL.
The main objective of the SOS Coordination Centre, as Jayasooriya explains, is to prevent children being institutionalized. “Several recent studies reveal that children are at the risk of being institutionalized due to the threat of being abandoned by parents, poverty and also disharmony at home, including domestic violence, alcoholism and land disputes. The Coordination Centre facilitates in making referrals to relevant service providers who can support the child and the family concerned, thereby, preventing institutionalization.” The Coordination Centre is manned by two trained coordinators who will respond to calls made by the public with regard to children who are at risk.
The hotline 0114013933 is available during working days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Upon receiving the necessary information, the Coordinators will assess the situation and make referrals to the relevant service providers who can assist the child and family requiring help and they will also provide further information to educate other interested stakeholders.
The information gathered will be entered into a database and shared with relevant state authorities. “We urge socially responsible citizens and other state authorities dedicated to child welfare to make optimum use of this facility, by alerting us on any instance of a child/children being at the risk of losing parental care,” remarks the National Adviser-Advocacy.
With the aim of raising awareness about the referral service offered by SOS CVSL, ‘Talking Bus Halt’, a first-of-its-kind, audio visual bus halt has been unveiled opposite D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo 7 by the ‘Never Give up on a Child’ advocacy initiative of the SOS CVSL.