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Coordinating the Search for the Missing |
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| This document gives details on the need for coordinating the search for missing street children among those working for the same. It briefs about the possibility of networking the search with HomeLink and www.missingchildsearch.net. It ends with guidelines for better implementation of the solution. |
| Realizing that there are missing gaps in the available information and the intervention by the State and its allied systems, this is initiated to identify, re-domicile, rehabilitate and follow-up missing cases in the mission of working for the street children. |
| The world of missing persons |
| There are about 140 persons reported missing to the police in Mumbai, every day. Only around 4 of these cases are re-domiciled. What happens to the rest? |
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| An Endless Search |
| In spite of many government and non-government organizations being involved in the re-domiciling if missing persons, the success rate is very low. Many families keep searching for years and end up frustrated. Many missing persons are unable to retrace their families. |
| A Case |
| Jayaraj, a mentally retarded boy was missing from his home in Jogeshwari on March 6, 2001. This missing case was reported to Balprafulta began. Inquiries at police stations, children's homes, missing person's bureaus and other NGOs working with children drew a blank. There was no breakthrough. |
| One morning, a Balprafulta worker visited a government hospital for the routine follow-up of another case. This worker recognized the mentally retarded missing boy (from the picture the family supplied) lying on a bed next to the person she was visiting. She called him by name and he responded. The contact was made. The family was informed. Twenty days of mental anguish came to an end. Jayaraj and his family were reunited once again. |
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Need for a Joint Network |
| Cases such as the one mentioned above, led to the realization that networking and sharing of information by various organizations, could put in place the missing links to facilitate the re-domiciling of missing persons. |
| Hence, there is a need for a joint network of government and non-government organizations to co-ordinate this. The co-ordination involves the following |
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Documentation and dissemination of information. |
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Networking with allied organizations for identification and re-domiciling. |
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Rehabilitation of destitute persons with government and non-government institutions. |
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Advocacy and lobbying for legal changes. |
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Family counseling and individual support. |
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Skills development and training programs. |
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Documentation and dissemination of information. |
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Networking with allied organizations for identification and re-domiciling. |
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Rehabilitation of destitute persons with government and non-government institutions. |
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Advocacy and lobbying for legal changes. |
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Family counseling and individual support. |
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Skills development and training programs. |
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| Documentation and Dissemination of Information |
| There, we need a tool to record, access and analyze the details of street children such as their complete profile and services done to them. Every child' information needs to be made available for reference at any time, especially for presenting to the legal authorities incase of probe into a child's case. The reports have to have the right information in the right format, in which the authority, the sponsor or an advisory needs. |
| Hence, a tool to organize, consolidate and evolve strategies is a must, to an organization involved in the mission of working for the young at risk. The individual service reports are useful at different levels of a child's transformation process, for decision and support while consolidated service reports can provide insights into choosing the right strategic path to achieve the desired results. |
| Here, we have the software HomeLink, from BoscoITS, which can manage the following information about the services, for any organization working for the Young at Risk. |
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Centres and the areas were the works are carried out. |
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Children who come and leave. |
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Staff who are involved at carrying out the activities. |
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Services rendered for each child. |
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Programs conducted for different groups. |
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Societies that collaborate. |
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Parent body and volunteers. |
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Alumni, past pupil (staff as well as child). |
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Yearly, monthly and weekly calendars. |
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| Having recorded the above information, HomeLink helps to retrieve the complete profile of a child, details of a staff and the Services to the Children. The reports can be day-wise, date-wise or program-wise. HomeLink can track home placements, parent's information and provide statistical summary on the same. |
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| www.MissingChildSearch.Net |
| In order to facilitate the search for missing persons, Don Bosco Institutions all over India, have hosted a website, www.missingchildsearch.net. All available information on missing persons, nationwide, will be provided on this site. It is a portal website which shares information of the missing child from HomeLink database developed by BoscoITS, among those working for the street children. |
| Anybody can be a part of this venture as, |
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An alert and concerned citizen who befriends and guides missing persons. |
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A person who reports missing cases and guides lost persons to the police station or organizations that deal with missing persons. |
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A volunteer organization for identification, re-domiciling networking and documentation of missing cases. |
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| The primary objectives of the website can be identified as to share missing children details among the member institutes, collaborate with other institutes with regard to the missing child and help the relatives of the missing child to get back their child. Being the facilitator of communication between those who work for the cause the website features the following |
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Report missing child. |
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Search for missing child. |
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Member organizations directory. |
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Search for organization. |
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Representatives Directory. |
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Validate Representative. |
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Search for Representative. |
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Share HomeLink data. |
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Download data to your Desktop. |
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Discuss about a missing child. |
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Link from your website. |
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Mail Service Between the Organizations. |
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Chat Service Between the Organizations. |
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Photo Gallery for each organizations . |
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Direct uploading of HomeLink Missing child data to the web site. |
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| Network Diagram |
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| From the above, it can be noticed that there is a bi-directional link between HomeLink and www.missingchildsearch.net. Apart from that, the site also provides very secure information access by identifying those who access the website in any of the below categories and thus restricts access to specific features. |
1. Visitor
2. Representative
3. Administrator |
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The visitor is anybody who visits the website. Visitor can access all static information
provided and submit missing child details to any of the member organizations. The
representative is a staff working in any of the member institutes. The representative
can upload missing child data from HomeLink to the website, download data from the
website, search for a missing child and communicate with other institutes. And,
the administrator is the sole operator and moderator of the website with access
to all the data on the website. |
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| Roles and Responsibilities |
| Fr.George Kollashany SDB |
Secretary-YaR |
Sole Proprietor for the site, Conduct Training programmes with agreement with BOSCO InfoTech. |
| Fr. Thaddeus SDB |
Technical Direction |
Solution Provider, Initiating Training for the site as HomeLink users at Resource Centre. |
| Mr. Ganesan |
Site Development |
Domain Name Registration, Website Development, Maintenance and Renewal of the DNR and Web Space. |
| Mr. John Peter |
YAR Representative |
The web master of the site. Monitors and maintains the data and the site usage by different members. |
| Mr. Arokiaraj S |
BIT Representative |
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| Availing the solution: Anybody can make request to the Site Owner for membership or linking from other site. The membership is categorized into the following three and licensed accordingly. |
- Having HomeLink and joining the site.
- Wanting link to the site, from any other site.
- Not having HomeLink but wanting to join the site. |
| Costing Criteria |
Category #1 |
Category #2 |
Category #3 |
| HomeLink Software Cost |
Rs. 6,500 |
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| Training on the software for 3 days |
Rs.750 |
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| Initial Registration for Site Membership |
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| Renewal of Site Membership every year |
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| Costing Criteria |
Category #1 |
Category #2 |
Category #3 |
| HomeLink Software Cost |
Rs. 6,500 |
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| Training on the software for 3 days |
Rs.750 |
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| Initial Registration for Site Membership |
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| Renewal of Site Membership every year |
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| Costing Criteria |
Category #1 |
Category #2 |
Category #3 |
| HomeLink Software Cost |
Rs. 6,500 |
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| Training on the software for 3 days |
Rs.750 |
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| Initial Registration for Site Membership |
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| Renewal of Site Membership every year |
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| Support |
| Training is given at Yellagiri Hills. The training cost includes food and accommodation. However, the travel and other expense have to be met by the participant. Apart from the above mentioned supported training program other support and service will be done online. However, the individual training at your organization can be availed at additional cost. |
| Recommendations to the YaR members for a successful implementation
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Let each Centre identify a computer literate as the one responsible for the implementation and operation of this networking venture. |
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Let us standardize the formats for data entry in our organizations. |
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Let the Directors acquire basic knowledge and functionality of the software to prevent escapism from their operators, blaming the software. |
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Changes to the system are always welcome. Please give time to consolidate your requirements and include it in the software. |
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